2 Another Misplaced Sukima
by WillieG.R
Summary: The continuing story about the boys from the outside world that came to Gensokyo by accident. What kind of mess is going on this time? *WARNING* May contain spoilers from "Misplaced Sukima"
1. Prologue

It was a dark night. Ail, who now wore a brown cloak over his clothes, adorned with a round green crystal around the neck, was running through the forest, looking scared and breathing heavily. Behind him, many footsteps followed. Ail decides to fly away, but just as soon as he was above the trees, Remilia gets in his way. He prepares a spell card, but just then, Yuyuko, Yuka, Eirin, Kaguya, Siki, Kanako and Okuu and Orin surround him.

"I'm not gonna do it, so let me go!" shouted Ail.

Kanako chuckles and says "look, it's not that serious. Something simple and that's it!"

but Ail shouts back "no way! Siki, I can't believe you, of all the youkai here!"

Siki gets closer and says "look, I never actually CAUSED an incident, never the less..."

Remilia gets closer and says "we ALL had to fight Reimu as final bosses, and YOU are strong enough to be one too."

Okuu was just smiling and looking around blankly and confused so Orin says "only then, will you truly belong in Gensokyo to our eyes, bro. We ALL did it, so why not you!?"

Yuyuko gets close to Ail, pats his head and says "do something simple. You're a good person, so do something that's good, but Reimu won't like."

Kanako then gets closer and says "either you do it, or we'll do it FOR you!"

Ail thinks for a second and says "but wait, didn't I fight Reimu during the snake-like shadow incident!?"

All shake their heads and Eirin says "that was just a little scratch. You NEED to battle her as a last stage boss."

then Kaguya adds "bah! So much for him. He's just a big chicken, so lets leave him be!"

Yuka grabs Ail by the shoulder and with a smile on her face she says "look... if you don't do it, me, Suika and Mima will hunt you down everyday and make your life hell!"

Ail shouts back "Mima and Suika would NEVER do that!"

and from below the trees Mima shouts back "Oh yes we will."

Ail looks down and there they were, just under him and pointing at him with her staff, Suika beside her, grinning a very evil-looking grin. Ail gives up and sights loudly saying

"FINE!!! I'll do it... And I think I got JUST the thing too."

All around him smile, except for Okuu, who was still staring blankly and smiling as she looked to the stars and then she asks

"Orin, why are we here again?"

In heaven, Tenshi was looking down and saying to herself "they'll call me, you'll see... or maybe... they just forgot?"

It was a beautiful sunny summer morning at the Hakurei Shrine. Reimu had just woken up along with Renko and Maribel. Each had a broom on their hand as they stretch under the sunlight.

"Right" says Reimu. "I'll take the front, Renko, you take the back."

Renko salutes Reimu saying "right!"

"and Maribel, you take the left" continued Reimu.

Maribel smiles, giggles and nods, then starts sweeping the stone path alongside the shrine, smiling and looking at the trees and the clouds. Reimu sighs then heads to the front of the shrine. About 10 minutes later, Maribel heads to Reimu and says

"I'm done... want me to help here?"

Reimu says "I'm just about done here..."

then they both see one of the village elders who just finished climbing the stairs, complaining about his back. They both hurry to the old man, who whacks them with his stick, again complaining about the long walk and the stairs. After calming him down with a nice warm cup of tea, the old man explains

"...I was the only one able to get out of the house. The ice froze all the doors shut. Please miss maiden, this must be the work of a youkai. You must look into this.

Reimu sighs lightly and says "sure, it's my duty anyway. Besides, when a youkai misbehaves, I'll be sure to make it pay!"

In front of the large red gate, Reimu readies herself, but just before she lifts off, Maribel comes running to her

"Miss Reimu! Can I come with you!?"

Reimu looks at her a bit worried and says "you'll follow me, even if I say 'no' just like last time. Fine. Genjii~!"

From the lake behind the shrine, the large turtle comes flying, then lands next to Reimu and Maribel.

"Genjii~!" exclaims Maribel as she rushes to hug the bearded turtle.

Reimu smiles at him and says "could you give her a ride with me? Oh, and could you keep her safe?"

Genjii smiles and says "well of course. Off to another adventure?"

Reimu smiles and says "it's a pain, really, but it IS the Hakurei maiden's job, I suppose. Renko, accompany the old man back to the village."

Renko shouts "sure thing!" then thinks to herself "then I'll go visit Akyuu."

As Reimu, Genjii, with Maribel, lift up to the skies, Reimu thinks to herself "I wonder where the heck is Mima? I really could have used her help!"

At the Garden of the Sun, Ail was standing right next to a large dark blue gap that was expelling a snowstorm.

"Man... why did I do this?" asks Ail, thinking out loud.

"Great, she's getting closer. I best be ready."

and just like that, there was Reimu high above his head, Genjii and Maribel behind her, Maribel waving at Ail, saying a casual "hi~!"

Ail waves back then Reimu says "wait a minute! This isn't Sage 6... it's Stage 5!"

Ail looks confused, then opens his eyes wide saying "AWW~ come ON! I went to great lengths to get this right!"

Reimu thinks for a minute, and while she names the bosses, she counts with her fingers

"let's see... Agava and Rumia, Keine, Mystia and Mima, Medicine and Yuka... and now you... By the way, Agava, Medicine and Mystia were mid-stage bosses."

Ail thinks for a second and says "why can't it be just 5 stages?"

Reimu looks at Ail casually and says "it's a rule."

Just then, Marisa arrives saying

"AI~L! That was awesome! Your little incident made the town so cool and fresh. Can you do that at my house too, ze?"

Ail grabs Marisa and give her a big hug shouting

"Marisa~~! I'm so glad you're here. Can you play with Reimu for a bit? I need to check something out back there..."

Ail leaves, pulling his gap along, leaving Marisa blushing, looking surprised and confused, then she looks at Reimu who says

"so, Marisa's the Stage 5 boss then?"

Marisa opens her eyes wide and says "hey WAIT A MINUTE!"

A loud explosion rattles the entire garden as Ail keeps going farther away and saying "maybe I should escape while I have the chance..."

but Reimu had caught up already saying

"well, the Final Stage boss... at last. Look, let's make this quick, alright!?"

Ail looks at her then says "wait a minute, you already beat Marisa!?"

Reimu smiles and says "without using a single bomb, or losing a single life... take a look!"

Suddenly Ail realizes he's in a small rectangle. To his left there was a small grid with the words Score, Life, Bombs, and Graze. Life had 8 stars, bombs had 6 stars, graze was at 2,478 and Reimu's score was at 2 million and still going up.

"O~kay" says Ail, looking puzzled.

Reimu shrugs as Ail flies up to meet her and trying to sound threatening says

"SO, you made it this far. I am impressed. However you are TOO late! The village is now covered in snow, and I'll be able to build the largest snowman ever built, MUAHAHAA~"

Reimu looks at Ail casually, but doesn't say a word.

Ail whispers at her "did I sound menacing enough?"

Reimu smiles, a sweat-drop falling from the side of her head saying "eh... so-so."

Ail starts shooting countless lasers at Reimu at great speeds, however she dodges these looking almost sleepy and constantly shooting at Ail.

"Hey, no fair!" shouted Ail. "Why can I only move in a set pattern?"

Reimu yawns and says "it's the rules."

and just then, Ail notices a life bar above his head. It was now red. Suddenly a spell card appears on his hand. He shouts

"Earth Sign, Forestall Heartbeat"

Many green and white crystal danmaku are shot at the rhythm of a heart beat and shaping a heart, then falling down on to Reimu slowly, spreading randomly, then large blue energy balls home in on Reimu, and at the same time, two blue lasers, one on the left, the other on the right, swiftly close in on Reimu, leaving small room for her to dodge, however she just keeps on shooting her charms and homing charms as well, and dodges all with ease, beating Ail's first spell card.

"Already!? FINE, you asked for it!" shouts Ail as his next life bar shows up.

Ail shoots at Reimu his focused shots with homing lasers. Being the final boss, there were a LOT of lasers, and one of them takes Reimu by surprise, making her drop a few power tabs. When she reappears, she looked mad.

"HEY! That was NOT FUNNY!!!"

shouted Reimu, glaring at Ail." Ail laughs and says "WOW I actually beat you?"

Reimu smirks and says "I STILL have 7 lives left!"

Ail gulps as Reimu pulls out a spell card and shouts "Fantasy Seal - Concentrate!"

8 Balls of energy, each of a different color, home in on Ail, blasting him hard. Ail then says

"OUCH! HEY! I can't use my barriers to block!?"

Reimu chuckles and says "and there's plenty more where that came from!"

Reimu still had 2 Bombs left. Ail's life gets red again, then another spell card materializes. He shouts

"Brightness, Blinding Heart!"

Many rings spread around, followed by large blue light balls, all moving quite fast. All the rings had a few small openings, and Reimu used them to graze, however one of the balls of light got her.

"Blast it, that was careless of me" said Reimu in an undertone.

She continues to dodge the rest with ease, beating Ail's spell card. Ail was looking a little beat and says "fine, next wave!"

Ail's next life bar materializes, and he suddenly starts shooting a wave of white lasers all around him, followed by orange balls that trail along the lasers, giving Reimu very small room to dodge in. He starts moving around, but every time he did, the lasers would stop until he stopped moving. Reimu kept barraging him with charms, depleting his life bar, then another one forms up.

This time, Ail shoots many small blue and white energy balls accompanied by extra large orange ones, all scattered and uneven, then small blue and white lasers, all heading down to Reimu. She dodges all these with a lot of trouble, constantly being grazed, then suddenly she got hit, however she used her own spell card just then, shouting

"Fantasy Seal - Spread!"

8 light orbs scatter around in a circular manner, breaking Ail's shots and leaving room for Reimu to dodge around. Reimu depletes his life again, then a large red bar forms on top. Ail was a total mess by now, but he grabs the spell card and shouts with all his might

"Mad Waves, Raging Splash!"

To his left and right, a total of four sets of 6 extra large blue and white danmaku balls form up in straight vertical lines, and under those countless blue crystals, all scattered unevenly toward Reimu quickly, then the extra large shots follow downward, spreading sideways as they did. Soon after that a watery wave heads toward Reimu, releasing countless more blue crystals, all falling scattered. As the water waves reach Reimu, a few gaps form, giving her space to dodge in.

Ail shouts "Aww, COME ON!"

Reimu casually looks at him and says "hey, it's normal mode!"

Reimu beats the spell card, then another one forms on Ail's hands.

He shouts "Blast Sign - Expansion that Soothes!"

Ail surrounds himself with 30 medium orange energy balls that spin rapidly around him. He flies around, trying to get Reimu, however she uses her bomb again

"Fantasy Seal - Concentrate!"

and gets Ail with 8 balls of energy. Suddenly, the energy around Ail starts to spread around, still spinning and trailing many white danmaku balls that aimlessly float down, swaying like feathers. Reimu somehow dodges these and continues her assault on Ail, finishing his life bar.

Ail breathes heavily and says "we-we're not done here!"

Reimu looks at Ail and says "so... one more life bar. Bring it on, little man!"

A spell card materializes on Ail's hand. He raises it and shouts

"Light Sign, Holy Dance"

Ail is surrounded by a large orb of light that protected him from Reimu's holy charms. 8 straight white lasers surround Ail, trapping Reimu between two of them, and slowly move around to the left then the right. A trio of white energy balls that formed a triangle start pouring down from Ail's light energy, moving slowly down, then after a bit, the lasers move a little faster and light blue petal-shaped danmaku fall in straight lines. Reimu loses another life, now only 5 remain.

She continues to dodge these, and almost got hit again, but she uses one of her bombs to survive. After 30 seconds, the spell card times out and Ail blows up in mid-air. Maribel and Genjii both wear sunglasses as they watch the boy explode.

Back down on the ground, Ail was sitting, his clothes in tatters, his face singed and dirty. He smiles and closes the gap. Reimu helps him up and says

"if I had known you had holy magic with you, I'd have brought my needles and broken that blasted barrier to bits."

Ail smiles, but Reimu grabs his left ear and asks "no~w, why did you do all this?"

Ail rubs his ear when she lets him go and tells her about the reunion of final stage bosses and himself last night. Reimu rubs her eyes with her left hand's index finger and thumb then says

"and you went along with it, just like that? Somehow you even got Mima to play Stage 3 boss... well never mind. I beat you without using continues, so the rules say, there must be an extra boss around."

Ail looks at her confused and just then Maribel approaches him saying

"wow, that looked like fun. I wish I could use magic like that too... but all I have is these small pink hearts"

and she shoots some at Ail accidentally, but Ail ducks just in time. Just then, a large indigo gap opens behind them and sucks them both inside. When Reimu turns around after seeing Genjii's face, the gap closes, Reimu shouting

"WHAT THE HELL~!?"

Just like that, another gap, this one blue, opens and a woman falls face-down to the ground, the gap closing immediately after this.

"Oh great" shouts Reimu.

"NOW the extra boss comes, huh!? Wait... uh-oh!"

The woman gets up, rubbing her nose asking "whoa, what happened. Wait... this isn't the capital, where-? The woman sees Reimu and shouts "YOU!!?"

Reimu, backing away, her eyes open wide, and says "Yo--Yorihime!?"

To be continued...

Characters scenario and Spell cards belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail and "Light Sign, Holy Dance" spell card were created by Willie G.R. (Similarities are strictly coincidental. Assistance by snapshot2010)

JUL 13 2009

written by

Willie G.R.

**-Author's note-**

**I thought about it for some time and decided to post this after all... I don't know if you people are liking these or not, but I sure hope you are. I mean, I really enjoy writing these, so I hope others enjoy reading it ^_^. Expect spin-offs to come from this here story. Don't expect Meiling abuse here... she's got enough of that already. Also... expect the unexpected :).**


	2. Chapter 1

At the Garden of the Sun, after Ail and Reimu's battle, a strange gap opened up and sucked in both Ail and Maribel in an instant, and then after that, another gap, one of Ail's, opens up and drops Yorihime, from the moon. Another great battle went on and for about an hour or so, then it was over. Yorihime, her eyes spinning, lies on a bed of sunflowers, while Reimu, who looked really messed up and tired, asks Genjii to carry Yorihime. In the end, Genjii had to carry both back to the shrine, since Reimu was too exhausted to even fly.

Arriving at the shrine, Genjii is greeted by Renko.

"Genjii, you're back! Hey wait... where's Reimu?"

Genjii lands with Yorihime and Reimu unconscious on his back. Renko looks around, counts the passengers, looks behind her, then back at Genjii, then with great fear in her eyes she asks him "where's Mary?"

Genjii looks at her seriously and says "she and Ail were sucked into one of those barrier gaps."

As if not even listening, Renko rushes to the hot spring beside the shrine, grabs a bucket of water and fills it up, then rushes back to Genjii and drops the water on Reimu and Yorihime. Both girls wake up spluttering, Yorihime shouting

"we're under attack!!"

and at the same time, Reimu shouts "Aye~! Hot, hot,it's HOT!"

Both girls realize they were next to each other and start growling and glaring at each other, ready to start another fight, but Renko gets in their way, facing Reimu and looking a little angry and asks

"where is Mary!?"

Reimu drops her guard and starts to think, then suddenly remembers what happened and freaks out

"oh crap! She and Ail went inside a gap, and I have not clue where they are now!"

Yorihime gets a bit annoyed and with a loud "ahem!"

she gets Reimu and Renko's attention. Reimu looks at Yorihime and says "look, this is not time to be fighting. I have to find my friends!"

Yorihime quietly smiles and inhales then shouts at the top of her lungs "WHERE THE HELL AM I!?"

The force of that shout was so strong, it sent Reimu and Renko flying a few feet back, Renko falling on top of Reimu. Reimu immediately gets up, pushing Renko away, and presses her forehead against Yorihime's, both staring at each other.

Reimu says "YOU are in Gensokyo, on Earth!"

Yorihime widens her eyes then backs away, then Reimu adds "so I'm going to have to ask you behave."

Renko gets up and almost crying she shouts

"Reimu~, what about Mary~!"

Both Reimu and Yorihime look at Renko worried, stop fighting and now both are trying to comfort her.

Ail wakes up next to Maribel. At first he was a little dazed, but slowly recovers and quickly realizes he's lost. The floor was dry and dead, only burned rubble and dead plants surrounded him. The floors were full of burn marks, the skies looked a little darkened, no birds flying about, only the sound of the wind eerily greeted him. Ail realizes Maribel was next to him and quickly kneels beside her.

"Maribel... Maribel, can you hear me? Wake up!"

Maribel happily groans and stretches as she wakes up. Ail lets out a sigh of relief and gets up.

Maribel asks "mister Ail? Where's miss Reimu?"

Still looking around, trying to find out where they are, he answers "I just woke up. I'm trying to figure out where are we?"

Maribel gets up and looks around and says "wow... what a mess. Wherever we are, it's not very pretty."

They both decided to walk around and see if someone would help them. Roughly 30 minutes pass and they spot a tall youkai with large black horns, an angry expression on his face, his eyes black. His body was bulky and very muscular and wore only a pair of red pants and thick black army-like boots. Ail thought he was trouble, but he needed to know where they were, so he approached the creature.

"Excuse me sir, sorry to bother you, but could you tell us where we are? My friend and I are a little lost."

The creature looks at him and smirks, then says "give me the girl, and I'll tell you."

Ail backs away, covering Maribel and says "then we'll be on our way, sorry to bo-"

but the creature gets on their way, Ail saying "what an unpleasant youkai you are."

The creature frowns and says "I'm a DEMON, you moron! Don't compare me to one of those youkai... now give me the girl!"

Ail smiles widely and says "if you value your health, I would suggest you GET away, while you can."

The demon scowls and launches a punch straight at Ail, however Ail had grabbed Maribel and jumped out of the way, placing her safely behind him again.

Ail smirks and waves his index finger at the demon saying "tsk, tsk, tsk. Always the hard way, huh?"

He points his finger at the creature and various lasers and focused blasts cover the demon, knocking him down in an instant.

Still smiling Ail says "well sir, thanks for your time." then walks all over him, pulling Maribel by her hand, who apologizes after stepping on the creature.

Back at the Hakurei Shrine, Yorihime, Renko and Reimu had calmed down and were sitting by the table with some tea for each, however Yorihime wouldn't touch hers and just looked around suspiciously.

Reimu calmly says "ok, you were minding your own business at the moon capital, then suddenly were sucked in by a blue colored portal. That's Ail's gap, no doubt. However, both Ail and Maribel are missing, I cannot sense them in Gensokyo, so that indigo gap must have taken them elsewhere... but I haven't the slightest clue as to where."

Reimu grabs her teacup by the top, placing her hand on it's opening while placing it on the table as she analyzed the situation. Renko was shaking a bit as she looked at her tea, then takes a sudden big gulp and then shouts

"he better take GOOD care of her, or I'll kill him!"

Reimu calmly says "wherever they are, as long as she's with Ail, she's safe. Actually, I'm more worried about him..."

Renko springs up shouting "what!, Why? Is he a pervert!?"

Reimu looks at Renko for a few seconds and then starts laughing loudly. Renko sweats and looks at Reimu in disbelief then asks "did I just make a JOKE!?"

Reimu calms down and says "You've been here for a while, you should know he's not like that by now. No, I mean that after our battle, I left him pretty messed up."

Renko sits down as Reimu talked saying "oh, right..."

Yorihime then adds "wait a minute... Ail? That boy with the brown hair and dark clothes?"

Reimu and Renko nod at her. Yorihime stares at them for a while... From outside the shrine, Suika was helping Mima up the stairs when they see a large explosion that blows up the roof of the shrine, then drops back down. They hurry up the stairs and see the Lunarian, swinging her sword wildly at Reimu and Renko, chasing them all over, elaborating about Yukari's new plan to invade the moon. Mima and Suika look at each other then say

"to the Moriyas" Suika nodding as she said so.

Reimu got tired of running, turns around and fires various charms at Yorihime, making her arms and legs feel heavy. "argh! Let me GO! I'm gonna..."

but before she's able to summon any god, Reimu jumps on her stomach and looks at her straight in the eys and says

"LOOK!!! Calm down! First of all, I can't have you swinging dangerous toys around like that. Second, Ail is NOT like that! He'd NEVER help Yukari do something like that! I mean, the meanest thing he could think of doing it build a giant snowman.!"

Yorihime looks back at Reimu looking a bit confused then suddenly...

"gk...! Pfftt!! WAHAHAHAA!! WHAT!? A snowman!?"

Reimu starts to laugh as well saying "yeah. Can you imagine!? HAHAHAHA!"

Renko stares at the girls as they laugh and says "you know, you two look mighty friendly like that."

Both girls stop laughing and stare daggers at Renko, who backs away, forcing a smile.

Ail and Maribel kept walking around aimlessly, not knowing where they were yet. Ail was looking really tired and Maribel looked lost in thought.

"Man!" exclaims Ail. "What IS it with these creatures? Are they all perverts, assassins AND annoying!?"

Behind them was a trail of ghouls, fairies, demons, and even ghosts, all knocked out, their eyes spinning. Maribel grabs Ail's shoulder and says

"calm down mister Ail. I'm sure we'll find someone who's willing to help. Besides, it's gonna get dark soon. We should just rest for now."

Ail looks up at the sky but saw no sun or moon then asks "how do you know-?"

and just like that, the sky turns dark and full of stars. Ail stares at Maribel who giggles and smiles as she says

"wow, and that was just a wild guess from my part!"

Ail just kept staring at Maribel awestruck. They found a comfortable spot under a dead tree in order to spend the night. Ail had placed one of his barriers around them, but couldn't sleep. He just hugged his knees, closed his eyes, but couldn't fall asleep at all, even though he was very tired. First the battle with Reimu, then the gaps, then the many creatures of that land attacking... he was exhausted, but all he could do was look around, and hope to fall asleep. Maribel had fallen asleep the moment Ail placed the barrier around them, but started shivering, so Ail cover her up with his cloak.

The hours pass and finally, the light of day reaches them, however there was no sun in the sky. Maribel yawns and stretches looking quite content after her sleep. Ail looked horrible. His eyes were baggy, red and glassy, his hair was more of a mess than usual, and he felt he really needed a bath to boot.

After stretching, Maribel said "I could really go for a bath right now."

Ail calmly says "I haven't been able to hear or smell water at all."

Maribel just smiles and says "well, best thing to do now is keep walking, right?"

Ail smiles back and nods as Maribel hands him his cloak back, thanking him.

Night at the Garden of the Sun. Yukari was inspecting the area where Ail disappeared along with Ran, who was looking around the surroundings. Yukari gets closer to the place where Reimu told her Ail had disappeared, and where Yorihime had appeared. She touches the air around the area, then a small red blot shocks her hand, making her shriek and back away.

"Lady Yukari!? Are you alright?" asked the concerned shikigami.

Yukari looks at the area and says "Ho ho~! There's so much energy residue here... it's still quite active."

Ran then says "but can you use it to get Ail back? O-or send that woman back?"

Yukari opens her fan and says "Ran, we have company."

Yuka was standing there in her pink pajamas, just staring at them. Yukari narrows her eyes and says "I'm sorry, but I can't play right now. You'll have to wait until next time."

Yuka slowly gets closer to Yukari and whispers something in her ears. Ran was able to hear, but said nothing and just looked down. Yuka heads back to her home yawning as she did, then Yukari opens a gap and says "Ran, let's go."

Ran nods and enters the gap with her master. At the Hakurei shrine, Yorihime kept staring unblinking at Yukari.

"I inspected the area as you requested." said Yukari, pausing for a moment.

Reimu and Renko at the same time ask "...and!?"

Yukari opens her fan again and says "I'm sorry, but we'll have to wait for the next full moon to go back home. That gap that forced you to come here was a freak accident."

Yorihime lets out a loud "hmph" and kept staring at Yukari, who flaps her fan and laughs saying "my, what attitude... maybe I SHOULD try and conquer the Moon Capital, just for fun."

Yorihime gets up shouting "just TRY it you old hag!"

Yukari stares very dangerously at Yorihime, but Reimu glares at both, so they wind down, Yorihime quietly mouthing curses.

"Yukari! What about Ail and Maribel?" asked Reimu.

Yukari closes her fan and says "I can't get them. That energy disturbance messed with Ail's powers, opening a gap to a place even I can't reach that easily."

Yukari looks at Ran who nods at her. Renko despairs and bangs hard on the table and shouts "where IS she!!?"

Yukari looks at Reimu and says... From outside the shrine, sitting on some branches, Mystia, Rumia and Agava are startled by Reimu's scream "WHAT~~!!?"

Ail and Maribel kept walking around when suddenly, Maribel's stomach started to growl. She blushes and says

"err... sorry about that." but just like that, Ail opens one of his pockets and pulls out an apple, then gives it to Maribel and says

"Mima gave me that, but you can have it."

He smiles at her who hesitates before she picks the apple.

Ail urges her "go ahead, it's alright."

Maribel finally accepts the apple and just before taking a bite, she asks "hey, mister Ail? Why haven't you tried opening a gap back to that flower field?"

Ail opens his eyes widely in shock then face-palms himself saying "Oh~ my goodness, why didn't I think of that before!!?"

Maribel starts to giggle, then laughs hard, making Ail laugh lightly then he says "well, let's try it."

He opens a red gap to his left. He looks at it rather puzzled and says "wait, red? Let me..."

He looks inside and suddenly jumps back as fast as he could, avoiding some black tentacles and closing the gap.

"Err... let's try over there."

He opens a violet gap to their right. Ail confidently says "wow, looks like one of Yukari's. Maybe this one."

When he looks inside, he sees himself spinning around the air and saying "spin, Anilan, spin!"

The real Ail pulls his head out and closes the gap, holding his stomach and saying "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

Maribel giggles again as she takes another bite from her apple and says "try one more."

Ail nods, looking a little worried then opens another gap, this one blue. He peeks inside and sees a green-haired woman baking pies and smiling. Suddenly the pies start flying out of the gap, just as Ail ducks and closes it. The pies hit the ground and melted the floor.

"Wow... that looks dangerous" casually said Maribel.

Ail pants and says "that was just plain dangerous!"

Maribel had finished her apple and hiccups. Ail looks at her asking "are you alri-"

Ail's eyes pop from his head, making Maribel look a bit worried and asking "mister Ail? What's the matter?"

Maribel had grown a pair of blond cat ears on her head, however Ail didn't know whether to tell her the truth, or keep quiet. "Mister Ail?"

asks Maribel in a sweet tone, then Ail sighs, his face getting more red as he looked at her, and says "you... err.. grew cat ears."

Maribel touches her head and gasps. She keeps touching her new cat ears and looked as though she was about to scream, and suddenly

"WOW!!! I got cat ears! Do they look good!? Do I look cute!?"

She looks at Ail, wiggling the cat ears, making Ail blush bright red and says "err... they look cute..."

Maribel jumps up and down saying "Yay! Wait until Renko sees me!"

While Maribel celebrated, Ail hid his face from her, looking both suspicious and angry and thinks "that's why Mima wanted me to eat that apple so badly!"

Onward they continued, not knowing where they were going and unable to reach any familiar places. Ail was tired, sleepy and hungry, but he wouldn't say anything and just continued walking. Finally, they stumble across a large sign with what looked like an empty seat beside it.

"Look, mister Ail! A sign! Maybe it says where we are!"

Ail nods and softly says "good. Maybe if we knew where we are, I can open a gap back home with ease."

Ail read that sign out loud. "Welcome to Makai... Keep Out? Well, sounds like a friendly place."

Maribel giggles, but shortly after, both gasp and shout at the same time "MAKAI!?"

Ail slaps his forehead and says "of course! No wonder the creatures here are so aggressive. But wait... I though Reimu said this placed was sealed off and destroyed..."

"It IS sealed off, but not destroyed. It's undergoing remodeling, is all!" said a woman's voice.

When they look up they see a tall pink haired and pink eyed woman wearing a read dress with a white scarf and short white sleeves flying above them. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail to the right. She continued talking

"I've never seen you around here before... who are you and where did you come from?"

Ail gets in front of Maribel and says "I am Ail, and this is Maribel. We come from Gensokyo and just wish to go back, if it's not too much trouble."

The woman calmly stares at both as she landed in front of them and asks "You two are... human?"

Ail responds "half-human... oh and she's under a spell, apparently."

after saying this he thinks "from a little evil spirit that's gonna get it when we get home."

The woman keeps staring at them and says "well, my name is Sara, I am the Gate Keeper here, and I'm afraid I can't let you pass."

Ail shouts "but why not!?" at the same time Maribel asks "huh? Why's that?"

Sara smiles and says "because the entrance is sealed... nobody can go through at the moment."

Ail then desperately says "look... we just want to get out of here and go back to Gensokyo... nothing else."

Sara looks at him and smiles saying "well, if this gate wasn't sealed off, you'd end up directly in Gensokyo, but I'm afraid it IS sealed, so you can't go through."

Back at the Hakurei Shrine, Remilia, Sakuya and Patchouli had joined Yukari and Reimu in the attempts to open a gap to Makai, but they all failed. It was early morning and Sakuya was carrying her sleeping mistress and says

"we'll check the library and see if there's any other way to get to that place."

Reimu nods and thanks them. Sakuya nods back and flies off with her mistress on her back, followed by Patchouli who quietly nods at Reimu and Renko as she left. Reimu looks at Renko, who looked like she was about to cry and says

"don't worry... As long as Ail is there, she will be fine. There is only one being there that could cause real harm, and she's actually quite friendly."

Renko looks at Reimu and says "I hope you're right."

Suddenly they both realize that Yorihime had fallen asleep with her back against a wall, and on her lap was Yukari, sleeping with a smile on her face. Renko and Reimu look at each other looking quite worried, then quietly get close to try and separate them, however Yorihime wakes up with a yawn, so they quickly head back to the table, pretending not to notice anything. When Yorihime opens her eyes, she gets the shock of her life, seeing Yukari contently sleeping on her lap like that. Quietly, she tries to push Yukari away, but Yukari only groans a little an re accommodates herself, placing her face on Yorihime's belly. Yorihime's face turns red. She looks at Reimu who shrugs, and Renko who just stared back, then very suddenly she shouts

"GET HER OFF ME THIS INSTA~NT!!!"

She got up and angrily tossed Yukari away and started stomping angrily on the ground and shouting

"of all the PEOPLE! Gah, what if she attacked me? What if she suddenly sent me to another dimension..."

Yorihime kept on elaborating about plans to take over the moon after she was dead, so Renko and Reimu head to the spring, ignoring the mess inside. Both were stopped, however, by Sanae, who was floating next to the small gate to the spring, holding Mima by her cape, Mima looking messy and singed.

She smiles at Reimu and says "oy~... I think this girl's mad about something."

Back at Makai, Ail was trying to open gaps back to Gensokyo, since he was so close to the exit, however Sara continued to say

"it's not gonna work. There is only ONE way to get out of here, and it's sealed."

but Maribel says in a sweet tone of voice "but even so, miss Sara, we still managed to get in here through a gap... so maybe another gap might work, right?"

Sara ponders and says "good point."

Just then, Ail had opened a pink colored gap and stuck his head inside. A lot of kissing noises where heard, along with a woman's giggle and some moaning. When Ail pulls his head out, his face looked purple as he says

"don't... it's not pretty."

He slowly walks back to where Sara and Maribel were, Maribel asking "mister Ail? What's the matter?"

Ail tries to smile, but he was too tired, and even keeping his eyes open was a task.

He says "it's alright, I'm just tired..."

Just then, a massive spear-like orange energy headed directly to where Maribel was, and Ail quickly gets in the way and reflects it back with a barrier. He was breathing heavily as the spear lands far away, causing a massive explosion.

Sara walks next to Maribel saying "whoa... that looked dangerous. Are you ok?"

Ail slowly turns around and flips his thumb up, and after doing so, he collapses. Both Sara and Maribel rush to him, Maribel calling out to him.

Sara casually inspects him and says "ah... I think he's just sleeping..."

She turn him around and he was snoring softly. Maribel crouches and looks at him saying "wow, he really was exhausted... *hiccup*"

Sara looks at her saying "no kidding... hey, where did you ears go?"

Maribel pats her head then frowns and says "aww~~! They're gone. And I wanted to show Renko too."

Sara stares back at her, smiles and says "heh heh, you sure are strange humans... and so polite too... not like LAST time humans came to visit!"

Maribel smiles and says "oh, you mean miss Reimu, miss Marisa, miss Mima, and miss Yuka? Err... miss Sara? Are you alright?"

Sara started to cry and says "they beat me up so badly...*sob*"

Maribel smiles at her and opens her arms, then Sara jumps and hugs Maribel and started to bawl

"waa~h! They were so rude and mean to me!"

Maribel pats her back saying "there, there. It's ok."

Back at the hot spring at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu, Renko, Sanae, Mima, Marisa and Yorihime all sit around enjoying an early morning dip.

"So that kid got himself into Makai, along with Mary, ze?"

Renko says "yeah... I just hope he's taking good care of her."

Reimu giggles and says "I told you to relax. He's not like Yukari... who would probably fall asleep while walking around..."

Back at Makai, Sara was poking Ail on the cheek as he slept, while Maribel whimsically looked around saying "wow, at least the trees here are alive. So pretty too."

Sara looks back at her nodding and saying "uh-huh".

Back at the spring, Sanae shouts "but Reimu, is there any possible way to bring them back!? He's not gonna stay in there forever... right?"

Reimu only shrugs and raises her hand, dropping it back and looking casually back at Sanae, then Yorihime calmly says

"I'm sorry... it was rude of me to behave as I have..."

All look at Yorihime quite surprised as she continues "*sigh* it's just not that easy to accept these facts. Sometimes they are just... unbearable."

Reimu smiles and extends her hand to Yorihime saying "then let me welcome you to Gensokyo... without the blasts."

Yorihime giggles and accepts the hand-shake, then Marisa gets closer and says "there's only one way to welcome such a guest to Gensokyo..."

Reimu shouts "Marisa, don't you DARE!!!"

but Marisa just screams "WELCOMING PARTY~!"

Reimu shouts "no, NO! Marisa, no, you never help me clean up!"

Sanae then says "I don't want to party, I want to help Ail and Maribel get back!"

Renko nods at this statement, then Mima says "you two, relax. Ail is like having a backup Reimu at hand. He and Maribel be back before we know it."

Marisa smiles widely and says "I'll go get Suika to spread the word!"

Just like that, she jumps out of the spring and runs to the small gate, gets dressed in a second, and still dripping water from her hair, she sits on her broom and flies away, just as Reimu was about to grab her. Reimu looks at Marisa fly away and says

"not another party~!"

Sanae shouts at Reimu "HEY~! cover yourself!"

Back at Makai, Sara was reading a book while Maribel knelt beside Ail, playing with his hair, and just smiling.

Suddenly she says "I haven't seen many birds here."

Sara, while still reading her book, says "don't worry. Once they migrate back here, you'll get birds-a-plenty."

Maribel giggles and continues to play with Ail's hair. A few minutes after, a woman comes flying down saying "well what do we have here? Two humans and a gate guard?"

Maribel looks up and sees a blond woman with yellow eyes wearing a white hat with a purple bow, and a white short sleeved dress with a purple neckerchief around her shoulders tied around her chest. Maribel quickly stands up as the woman continues asking

"and where did these humans come from? Did the gate open?"

Sara calmly replies "they came through one of the male's... err.. Ail's gates. Seems he can open up gates of his own."

"So the boy's name is Ail, huh? Who's the girl?" asked the blond woman.

Maribel bows politely and says "I am Maribel Han."

The woman waves her hand thinking "so polite" and saying "hi Maribel Han. I am Luize, a special demon here in Makai."

Maribel feels a bit uneasy, but Luize says "don't worry, I won't eat you." and smiles.

She walks to Sara and says "say, you didn't happen to see a flame spear fly by, did you?"

"Sara turns away from her book to look Luize and says "Oh, that was you then? I was headed straight this way, but that boy over there used some sort of shield to deflect it..."

Luize sweats and says "err... no, that wasn't me exactly. So he deflected it? Interesting... another human with strange powers. Lady Shinki will want to hear about this."

Maribel looks at them a little confused and Luize says

"don't worry. Lady Shinki's not that bad. But you two entering here is a matter that should interest her, specially that boy. To be able to deflect a spell of that magnitude like that? Last time powerful humans came, THIS happened."

then she points back from where Ail and Maribel had come from.

Maribel says "wow... miss Reimu did all that? She never told me she did such mean things!"

Luize thinks "is this girl for real?" then says "look, that's not exactly what happened... ah well, I'll let lady Shinki explain. I'll take you there, so come on."

Back at Gensokyo, Sanae, Marisa, Mima, Reimu and Yorihime were happily drinking tea side by side, at the shrine's porch, all just agreeing with each other. Renko was mad, but she knew there was nothing she could do here. She stomps hard as she gets out of the shrine, and passes by the lazy girls drinking tea. She looks back at them and angrily says

"I'm going to Keine's! Maybe SHE can help me get Mary back! You just keep enjoying you peaceful day!" and then she storms away, heading to the human village.

At the school, Keine, Akyuu and Renko were reading books and scrolls on barriers, Makai and the such, when Akyuu suddenly says

"oh my goodness..."

The others look at her, Renko shouting "what, WHAT!? did you find something!?"

Akyuu then says "oh, sorry, I just thought I'd ask Ail and Maribel about their experience in Makai when they get back!"

Renko looks a little annoyed and Keine just sighs as she places her head on the palm of her hand. Akyuu just hides her face under the book she was looking at and continues to quietly read.

Back at Makai, Luize was carrying a still sleeping Ail and Maribel while she flew them to Shinki's palace. Maribel looks around, enjoying the views then asks

"miss Luize? Are you ok carrying both of us like this?"

Luize answers "sure, it's no problem for me. I may not look it, but I'm quite strong."

Maribel smiles at her then continues to enjoy the view. They fly over a large lake and shortly after the lake, they saw the beautiful palace. It had a few parts missing, but it still looked beautiful.

Luize says "welcome to Pandemonium, miss Maribel, mister, err.. still sleeping Ail. This is where lady Shinki lives."

Maribel smiles as they get closer to the palace and says "wow, it's so pretty!"

Luize says "it's was a whole lot prettier before... but... well, lady Shinki will explain more."

And so they reached the palace's entrance. Luize places Ail against one of the gate's side-pillars, then asks Maribel to wait a bit, then heads inside. Maribel sits next to Ail, anxious to see the palace inside, imagining how it might look, and asking herself who was Shinki, and if she was kind, or ruthless?

Back at Gensokyo, Renko, Keine, and Akyuu continue to read the books, hoping to find a way in and out of Makai in order to get their friends back.

To be Continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail was created by Willie G.R.

JUL 17 2009

written by

Willie G.R.

**-I'm really sorry to those who wanted to read a good Yorihime vs. Reimu battle, but I couldn't find information about the Gods they'd summon. Don't worry though, I will do my best to find as much info as I can on those gods and write up a good battle (I hope *sweat*).**

**"Sara's too friendly" I know... she has her reasons. Luize is always friendly and polite, and that's why there's no big battles here. Relax, relax. Not everything is battles and explosions. Sometimes some relaxing grape juice, or a walk around the park is good. Too many battles will wrinkle your shirt. I promise I'll do my best to make this more interesting... just like with the one before, right?... -  
**


	3. Chapter 2

After realizing they were in Makai and meeting Sara, Ail tries to open a gap back to Gensokyo, but he is unable to. He had used so much energy too, and had been unable to rest, and after saving Maribel one last time, he collapses out of exhaustion. Now they are at the gates of Pandemonium, Shinki's palace, Ail still asleep and Maribel anxiously waiting for Luize to return and take them inside, so she could see the palace inside with her own eyes. At Gensokyo, everyone except for Renko and a few others were overly confident Ail would find a way back from Makai at any moment. Surprisingly, yet unknown to the others, it is Patchouli Knowledge from the Scarlet Devil Mansion who's more worried about Ail.

At the Scarlet Devil Mansion's library, Patchouli looks into mountains of books, looking for information on Makai, and ways to get inside. She hadn't slept at all, and neither had Koakuma, but both continued to look into the books.

"Don't worry lady Patchouli... I am sure we'll find something. You'll see." said Koakuma trying to sound optimistic.

Patchouli just sighs and continues reading. Suddenly, she remembers when Ail went to look for Koakuma inside that shadow world, and other events that followed. Ail spends a lot of time in the SDM, and so... has become like part of the family there.

"You remember...?" suddenly says Patchouli "...when he came by on night with Marisa?"

Koakuma looks at her mistress a little confused then flaps her wings on her head saying "oh yes, that night Marisa used him to steal some books, right?"

"Yeah... I remember it like it was yesterday..."

*FLASHBACK*

Marisa and Ail appear from the Misty Lake during darkness of the night. Marisa was holding Ail close to her, placing her arms around his waist, under his shirt.

"Oh, my mister... Ail?" What is she doing here?" asks Meiling.

Ail nervously waves at her while Marisa says "oy~! Just came to visit, ze?"

Meiling stares at them and places her right hand index finger on her bottom lip and asks "and... uhh... why are you-?"

"We're just really close friends, zei~!" abruptly said Marisa as they walked inside.

She squeezes Ail and whispers "act a little more natural!"

Ail then smiles normally and waves at Meiling saying "we won't be long..." and go inside the mansion.

Almost immediately, a small gap opens next to Meiling and whispered on Ail's tone of voice "ple~ase help me~!"

The gap closes off quickly as Meiling looks around confused and thinking "I'm starting to hear things..."

Still tightly close, Marisa and Ail head directly to the underground basement and to Patchouli's library. Upon entering they are greeted by Koakuma...

"err... good evening. Lady Patchouli will be most pleased by your visit... err... any particular reason why you two are so... close?"

Ail waves at her, wiggling his fingers in a certain pattern, then Marisa squeezes him again and says

"we're just such good friends, right?"

Ail nervously says "r-right. Of course we are!"

"Right this way, then." says Koakuma with a smile then says "ah, excuse me, I have to go talk to miss Sakuya. Please, tell lady Patchouli I won't be long."

Soon they reach Patchouli, reading some books at her desk saying "my, you two suddenly became a couple?"

Ail relaxes and says "we're just such good friends, we're just having a fun day, right!?"

he says while holding his right hand pinkie up, pointing it at Patchouli and looking at Marisa, who looks back at him suspiciously, but then smiles and laughs.

Patchouli raises her eyebrows, but buries her face back into her book, saying

"and why have you come here in such a splendid night? To my understanding, there are no romantic spots here."

Marisa smirks and says "enough with this! I have Ail at point-blank of my Master Spark, and if you don't get me what I want, I'm going to blast him to smithereens right here!"

Ail's face turns white, then blue, then purple and starts shaking as Marisa activates the Hakkero, it's warm glowing light singing his skin.

Patchouli calmly raises her head and says "I'll make a deal. You let him go right now, and I will let you take all the books you want. I won't even call Sakuya... deal?"

Marisa smirks and says "deal... you can have him anyway. I'm done for today, daze!" and so Marisa lets Ail go and heads to get the books.

Ail trembles as he softly sits on the ground saying "th-thanks miss Patchouli."

Patchouli almost smiles, saying "no problem... please you may call me Patchy if you like." Ail nods, still trembling.

After a few minutes, Marisa comes by with an enormous bag full of books and smiling as she says "say, thanks for the nice haul there, Patchouli. Ail, you're not so useless after all, ze!"

but then she realizes Koakuma and Sakuya are flying above her. Marisa gets mad and says "Hey~! I though we had a deal!"

Patchouli calmly says "yes, we do. I'm not bothering you, and it wasn't me who called Sakuya... so I haven't broken the deal, right?"

Marisa sighs and says "FINE, who's first?!"

A battle broke out above Ail and Patchouli. Sakuya and Koakuma did their best, but Marisa blasted them with her Final Spark, opening a large hole on the wall large enough for her to escape. Just as she was heading out she says

"well, you did you best, but it just wasn't enough. And just so you don't think if chasing me, here..."

Marisa turns around and fires her Hakkero, shouting

"FINAL SPARK"

without even looking where she was aiming at. The beam of light headed straight for Koakuma, but she realized too late.

"Oh, CRAP, I though she wasn't down there!"

Just before the large beam hits Koakuma, Ail jumps and rushes a quick barrier, protecting Koakuma in the process, however the barrier was too thin and broke after a while, only singing him a little, thankfully.

"Err..." Marisa hides her Hakkero and after seeing Koakuma was fine, she rushes out of the hole she had made, however she didn't measure the the width of the hole, breaking the large sack of books, all dropping down.

"CRAP" shouted Marisa as she swoops down and manages to catch three books then leaves shouting angrily. Koakuma hugs Ail, thanking him for saving her, Patchouli smiles at him and Sakuya gracefully bows, then smiles as she pats him on the head...

*FLASHBACK OVER*

As if still lost in thought, Patchouli continued to read, then Koakuma says

"don't worry lady Patchouli. If someone can survive in there is him."

Patchouli looks at Koakuma and says "you're right. He's almost like Reimu, in a way."

Both giggle and continue reading, still hoping to find some means to help their friends.

Back at Makai, at the palace of Pandemonium, Ail was still asleep, sitting right where Luize had left him, and sitting next to him was Maribel, who was anxiously waiting to get inside. Ail starts so mumble in his sleep and moves a little, falling off the pillar he was sitting against and landing his head on Maribel's lap. She shrieks and blushes, but quickly calms down, however she couldn't stop blushing. She started to pat his head when suddenly Luize comes from inside and shouts

"HEY~! Good news, Shinki will see you right away!"

Maribel sprinted up and doing so, sent Ail flying down the stairs. She covers her mouth saying "oops!"

and Luize saying "oh dear, that's not gonna end well for him."

Just as Ail's unconscious body was about to start bouncing on the stairs, he starts to sleep-fly. Luize immediately flies after him, but just as she reached him, he activated one of his barriers, preventing her from catching him. Maribel quietly, but desperately thinks, looking around, then suddenly she gasps and shouts

"FREE CANDY AND APPLES!!!"

and just like that, the still unconscious Ail smiles and turns around. Luize looks at him puzzled, but just followed him. He gently lands on the floor, right next to Maribel, who sighs as Luize lands shortly after saying

"wow... a male that likes sweets this much? Is he your boyfriend?"

Maribel panics, shaking her head violently and shouting "n-n-no! He's just a f-f-friend!"

Luize looks at her and smiles, then says "ahh, then you won't mind if I give him a little nibble? He should taste quite sweet!"

Maribel repressive says "miss Luize, no! He wouldn't like that!"

Luize looks at Maribel a bit disappointed and carries Ail on her shoulder saying

"aww~! But it's just a nibble!"

then Maribel replies "no! That's not a nice thing to do." and so they finally entered the palace, discussing the reasons why NOT to nibble on Ail.

Back at Gensokyo, at the Moriya Shrine, Sanae paces back and forth with her broom at hand, sweeping random leaves without picking them or piling them, or doing any actual sweeping at all. Suwako sat on the ground like a frog, just staring at her, then finally breaks the silence

"hey, Sanae... what are you doing?"

Sanae mumbles something, then Suwako says "I know you're worried about Ail, but pacing back and forth is not gonna help him."

Sanae stops for a second and stares blankly at Suwako, mumbling some more, and Suwako answering "nah~! He's a good kid. A bit weird, though."

Sanae continues pacing back and forth and mumbles some more. Just then, Kanako walks behind Suwako and just listens quietly.

"I'm sure it's just your imagination. He's strong, he'll survive and be back before you know it."

Sanae stares back at Suwako and sighs, then Suwako answers "yeah, you're right. But worrying too much will get you sick."

Suwako jumps like a frog towards Sanae, takes the broom, pats Sanae's left shoulder and says "look, you go and rest, and let us handle the cooking and cleaning today, ok?"

Sanae continues to stare blankly at Suwako, sighing and nodding, then slowly walks inside the shrine as Suwako replies to her "of course we can handle things here. You just go and rest."

As Suwako started sweeping the leaves, Kanako approaches her and asks "you could understand all that?"

Suwako smiles and says "no. I was just guessing."

Kanako narrows her eyes, looking at Suwako in disbelief, then punches her on the head. "You old hag! What was that for!" shouted Suwako.

"OLD HAG!? Alright, you ancient toad! You're gonna get it!"

and thus a battle breaks out, danmaku flying everywhere, the leaves accompanying the shots, and Suwako shouting

"at least I am younger than you!" and Kanako shouting back "don't delude yourself, you ancient fossil!"

Back at Pandemonium, an awestruck Maribel looked around the palace they continued on, ooo-ing and aaa-ing at anything, her eyes shinning with excitement, then suddenly she looks back and notices Luize licking Ail's hand as if it were a lollipop and contently saying

"mmm~ so sweet, yummy!"

She realizes she's being watched, so she immediately stops and tries to hide Ail's hand behind her, and then Maribel asks her

"hey, miss Luize? how is it that there's daytime here, and yet there is no sun?"

Nervously, Luize answers "umm, err, ah, the sun? Well think about it. This is a land for demons. The sun would purify us to extinction, so our lady Shinki blocks it so only it's light can come through."

Maribel let out an "ooh~!" and turns around again, ooo-ing and aaa-ing at the palace's floors and ornaments.

Luize takes the chance and grabs Ail's hand once more and starts licking it again. She stops for a moment, her lips trembling as she thought

"this is too tasty... ohh... just a nibble... a small one!"

and so she opens her mouth slightly, ready to take a bite and then, from beside her she hears Ail saying

"now that wouldn't be a nice thing to do, would it?"

Luize shrieks and throws him off her shoulders down to the floor hard. Maribel turns around to see what the fuzz was all about and shouts

"oh, mister Ail, you're awake *giggle*"

Ail slowly gets off the ground saying "that HURT!"

Luize bows apologizing and Ail replying "it's fine, it's fine."

and then he looks at his drool-covered hand and asks "err... why is my hand covered in drool?"

Luize giggles nervously as Maribel jumps on Ail and hugs him saying "you're awa~ke!"

Early evening at the Hakurei Shrine. Reimu was besides herself, as Marisa and Suika invited almost everyone to Yorihime's welcoming party. Yukari has just woken up and gotten out of the broom closet, and immediately started serving drinks all around. Remilia arrived shortly after, along with Patchouli, Sakuya, and Meiling. Patchouli quietly gets closer to Reimu looking disappointed and sad, then lowers her head saying

"I couldn't find anything. I'm sorry."

Reimu smiles and pats her on the shoulder and says "it's ok. The important thing is you tried."

When Patchouli lifts her sights, she looked as though she was about to cry.

Surprised, Reimu asks "wait... Patchouli, are you... crying!?"

Patchouli turns her head away and hides her eyes. Just then Marisa grabs her by the shoulder shouting "hey, this is party, daze! No frowning!"

and then pulls her into the rowdy crowd. Yorihime was politely and respectfully greeting everyone, having a few small drinks and just enjoying the company.

Reimu sighs and says to herself "great... now she's getting into it too. Oh crap, might as well join in."

and so she goes outside and joins the crowd, Suika immediately pouring her something to drink in a small cup.

At the school, Akyuu had fallen asleep, while Renko and Keine kept looking through books and scrolls. The effort seemed futile until...

"this--this is it!" exclaimed Renko, then shouted loudly "LOOK!!! I found it! A way into Makai!"

Keine rushes to her then reads the scroll and says "yes... you're right. You found it! We better get this to Reimu right away!"

Just then, they both realize Akyuu was still asleep. They couldn't just leave her there, so Keine carries her on her back while Renko carried her scrolls and books back to her mansion.

At Makai, in Pandemonium, Luize presents herself to Ail after apologizing countless times for trying to eat him.

"It's alright. The important thing is you didn't eat me, right?" said Ail.

Luize turns around, walking backwards, then smiles and giggles saying "you sure you are human?"

Ail sweats a little and awkwardly nods, then Luize turns around again and Maribel saying "you know, mister Ail, that you started to fly in your sleep?"

Ail looks at her a little surprised then Luize adds "yeah, that's right. You even shielded yourself."

Luize grins and asks "what were you dreaming?"

Maribel puts all her attention on Ail as he thinks for a bit and says

"well... I remember dreaming that I was flying above some delicious ice cream mountains. I was heading to one particular mountain that had... yumm~, chocolate ice cream, drizzled with chocolate syrup, colorful yummy sprinkles, and cherry on top, and on that cherry, with spoons in her hands was Sa~~omeone waving.... yeah... someone with spoons just waving... he he he."

When he stopped talking he realized Maribel was drooling while looking away and mumbling "yu~mmy~ ice cream~!"

and Luize was also drooling and gazing away saying dreamily "sweet tasting huma~n..."

Ail sighs with relief, thinking that nobody had noticed what he was about to say earlier, but then Maribel snaps out of it and says "so what was that about Sanae?"

"Sanae? I didn't say anything about Sanae." nervously answered Ail.

Maribel looks at him with a half-smile and says "you like her, don't you?"

Ail blushes so much, his face looked as though it was about to burst. He looks down and nervously says

"well... yeah. She a great friend."

Maribel keeps looking at him with accusing eyes, grinning at him, but keeps quiet.

At the Moriya Shrine, Sanae sneezes, unwillingly generating a powerful gale that sends all the leaves around the shrine, flying away. Kanako and Suwako were on the floor quite messed up. Suwako raises her head with difficulty and says

"nice work Sanae... auuu~"

then drops her head back down, her eyes spinning, while Kanako was lying on the floor as well, her feet against Suwako's, her eyes spinning as well and mumbles

"drinks, with cake~."

Sanae looks at the scene, frowns, puffs her cheeks and heads back inside the shrine.

Upon reaching a room that looked as though was made entirely of glass, Luize stops and signals Ail and Maribel to stop. They could hear footsteps getting closer, but saw nobody in the looming darkness ahead. Luize was bowing down and signals them to do the same, however Ail and Maribel were too curious about the footsteps. It suddenly got dark outside, making it harder to see further ahead and then they hear a woman's voice saying

"welcome, visitors, to Pandemonium, the Palace of Makai, my world."

From the darkness, smiling a most angelic smile, comes a short woman with light-blue eyes, long white hair with a small portion tied into pony tail at the top-left side of her head by a red ornament, and was wearing a long red robe which is pink around the neck. After coming to full view, Ail widens his eyes and immediately kneels respectfully, Maribel bowing politely with a smile on her face. The woman continues

"well it's been some time since we've had visitors from the outside, specially since the gate to this place is sealed. You must have some power in you, young half-human."

Ail gets surprised and looks directly at the woman, who was now looking at him directly into his eyes saying

"*giggle* you think I wouldn't notice? Umm... could you all please get up? It's a little embarrassing talking to you like this."

Ail slowly gets up, Maribel was just smiling while looking at the woman, and Luize, after getting up, gets besides the woman and says

"allow my to present to you, our mother and goddess, Lady Shinki!"

Ail keeps staring at Shinki as he says "so... you're the one who created this whole place?"

Shinki nods her head and says "that is correct. I am the goddess that created this world and it's inhabitants. Strange that a mere half-human such as yourself could figure that out already."

Ail smiles and says "let's just say a little red and white bird told me some vague details about Makai."

At the Hakurei shrine, Reimu sneezes, momentarily stopping the party, then Marisa grabs her shoulder and says "you need more drinks!"

then pours her more sake, which she drinks and says "gah... this is such a pain."

and all around her just cheer after she drinks her cup.

Back at Makai, Ail was still looking directly into Shinki's eyes and asks

"lady Shinki, can you help us get back home?"

Shinki lowers her head and slowly shakes it saying "I'm sorry. It's amazing enough you entered here just like that. I don't know how you managed that, but getting out...?"

Shinki starts to ponder as Maribel says "wow, Reimu never mentioned how nice you really are, my lady" and smiles,

but then suddenly Ail gets right in front of Maribel, startling her, then a large dagger comes flying from the darkness, straight to her. Ail grabs it and uses it to block three more.

Shinki, sounding quite surprised, says "Yumeko!? No, wait!"

From the darkness comes a woman wearing a long red maid outfit, yellow wavy hair, and yellow eyes, looking at the visitors menacingly.

"Lady Shinki!" shouts Yumeko. "These must be assassins sent by that evil shrine maiden to finish you off."

Shinki sweats and scratches the left side of her face saying "umm... I don't think..."

but Yumeko shouts "Luize, how COULD you bring these monsters here!"

Luize looks awkwardly around and tries to explain, but Yumeko shouts "don't worry, Lady Shinki, I'll protect you!"

Ail readies himself and says "what is it with you maids and sharp toys..? Fine, I'll be your opponent!"

Yumeko grins and says "I'll take you BOTH on!"

then Ail, in a menacing tone of voice says "you will leave her alone. I'm the one with the powers here, remember?"

Yumeko tosses various large daggers at Maribel, who ducks and covers herself, but the daggers all stopped before reaching her.

She slowly gets up and says "wow... how did I do that?"

then Ail replies "Reimu taught me how to make some charms... so you'll be safe. Now, miss Yumeko. Are you sure you want to go against your lady's wishes and fight me?"

As Maribel inspected herself, she noticed she had a charm on her poofy hat. Yumeko was looking at her lady and says

"Lady Shinki, these monsters and in league with that shrine maiden. I am sure they-"

"-if they were assassins, they would have tried to kill me already." said Shinki abruptly.

Ail was still on guard when he realizes he's inside another rectangular box and says "whoa... just like when I fought Reimu... except I'm the good guy this time... ALRIGHT...!"

He looks at the score board, then sees the bombs, there were 4, and then his lives...

"huh..? hey WAIT A MINUTE!? Why is it that I have only 2 lives left!?"

Luize giggles and says "umm... sorry, that was me... I took a small nibble from your elbow."

Ail looks at his right elbow and notices the bite marks. He looks at Luize in disbelief, and so does Shinki and Maribel. She drops to the ground apologizing and saying

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! He was just so sweet and tasty~!"

All, even Yumeko, start to sweat.

Shinki then says "well, Yumeko?"

Yumeko drops her guard, Ail lowering his as well.

She then says "fine, but DON'T you dare think I won't be watching! One false step and you'll both be dead in a heartbeat, got it!?"

Shinki sighs and says "Yumeko, why do you question my own judgment so much? Don't you trust me?"

Shinki looks at Yumeko, looking saddened. Yumeko's nose starts bleeding in jet-sprays, then she grabs her lady and gives her a big hug saying

"I'm so sorry my lady! I'm just thinking about your safety is all!"

Shinki's face turns red and says "uuh... that's fine... but you're... suffocating me."

Yumeko lets Shinki go with an oops and an apology, then Ail says "this is all very sweet and stuff, but about us? We really want to go back home."

Shinki smiles and lightly laughs and says "you are forgetting something, mister half-human?"

Ail gasps, places his hand on his chest, bowing, and says "my apologies, my lady. I am Ail, short For Anilan Inmodo Leuch."

Shinki smiles and says "you don't mind me calling you Ail, then?"

Ail replies "it would be an honor... and this is-"

Maribel was politely bowing, lifting her skirt a little and saying "I am Maribel Han, and it's a pleasure to meet you, lady Shinki."

Shinki, Yumeko and Luize were huddling.

Luize says "are these guys for real?"

Yumeko adding "their so damned polite, it's almost sick!"

then Luize says "I know. Much more polite than the last visitors. All four were so rude."

Shinki then says "I know, and they are so cute too. Maybe we should help them."

then Yumeko says "but my lady, what if it's all a ruse? Remember, they knocked out so many of your children before even arriving here."

then Luize says "but I really think they were just defending themselves... I mean, they spent some time with Sara, and didn't do anything to her."

Shinki thinks for a bit and says "let's keep a close eye on them for a few days... if they behave, we help them, alright?"

All nod and disperse. They noticed Ail and Maribel were staring at them looking rather confused.

Shinki awkwardly says "err.. sorry about that, heh heh heh. I am sorry, but it looks like we can't help you get out for the time being, but if you wish, you can stay here in the palace for a while."

Maribel's eyes start to shine and sparkle while saying "rea~~lly~!?"

Both Yumeko and Luize hold their bleeding noses, saying "that was so cute!"

Ail looks at Shinki a little suspiciously and says "my lady, we don't want to be any trouble..."

Back at the Hakurei Shrine, the party had winded down and the sun was almost up. All the girls there were asleep. Tewi had fallen asleep beside Suika at the top of the large red gate in front of the shrine, while Mima was sleeping next to the hot springs beside Yukari, placing her left leg on Yukari's belly. Yorihime and Reimu were the only ones sleeping in a futon, while the rest were sleeping anywhere all around the shrine. Just as the sun was rising, Renko and Keine, both looking so tired and sleepy that they were about to fall down, reach the top of the stairs, Renko holding the scroll with the instructions on how to get to Makai. They look around and think

"what a mess..." then Renko says

"geez! We work our butts off for our friends and they are having a party. Should we even bother showing them this?"

Keine, looking incredibly sleepy says "yeah... if we don't Reimu'll just get mad at us."

Renko looks back at Keine and says "I'd be more worried about Sanae getting angry..."

Keine looks at Renko puzzled and confused. Renko gets a bit annoyed and says "never mind."

They head inside the shrine and reach Reimu, and when Renko was about to call her, she closes her eyes and falls straight asleep, dropping down to the floor, next to Reimu, followed by Keine, who kneels down to get the scroll and wake up Reimu, but also falls down and immediately falls asleep just beside Renko. Reimu wakes up and looks around saying

"what a pain... they all stayed here... and nobody cleaned... gah, I better start clea-"

Reimu notices Renko and Keine sleeping right next to her, Renko holding on the a scroll. Reimu grabs the scroll and reads a bit then shouts

"I can't believe it! This is it! A way to get Ail and Maribel back!"

Just then, Patchouli wakes up, and Sanae pops from behind a tree shouting "you found a way!!?"

Remilia immediately wakes up and shouts "look! Reimu found a way into Makai! Everyone, look! She did it!"

Soon, everyone except Renko and Keine wake up as rowdy as they were in the evening. Reimu was trying to tell them it was Renko and Keine who had found the scroll, but they were too rowdy to listen, so she just sighs.

Yorihime wakes up and asks Reimu "is every day like this over here?"

Reimu casually says "more or less."

Back at Makai, Yumeko and Shinki were accompanying Ail and Maribel and take them to separate empty guest rooms.

"You'll be staying here, mister Anilan." said Yumeko in a most unpleasant tone.

Ail felt a bit awkward and says "look, I really don't want to be any trouble."

Yumeko ignores Ail and takes Maribel to the room next to his while Shinki says

"give her some time. Last time we had visitors..."

Ail looks at Shinki and asks "what happened? Reimu's name is like a time-bomb here, the lands are dead, the sky always looks so sad..."

Shinki lowers her sight and then lowers her head and says "after you have had some rest, I'll tell you. For now, I want you two to rest and feel at home here."

Shinki placed her hand on Ail's shoulder while she said this, then suddenly Ail's green gem starts to shine, startling both Shinki and himself. Yumeko comes rushing in to assist her lady immediately.

Shinki gets away from Ail, who was shouting "what's going on!?"

Shinki shouts back "Ail!? Mister Ail, are you alright!?"

Yumeko had her daggers ready, when suddenly Ail stops shining. Shinki and Yumeko look at him quite surprised, Yumeko still pointing her daggers at Ail. Ail's cloak had turned sky blue, and the crystal around his neck was constantly changing from blue, to violet, to green and again repeating the cycle. Ail looks at himself and then looks surprised at Shinki asking

"lady Shinki? Did you do this?"

His cloak turned sky blue in color, the gem around his neck kept cycling it's colors. Shinki and Yumeko keep staring at him, then from behind Maribel says

"wow, that was awesome~! But why doesn't the magical stuff ever happen to me!"

Yumeko and Shinki stare at each other, then Yumeko stares at Maribel while Shinki stares at Ail and both say at the same time "you humans are unbelievable!"

then suddenly Maribel hiccups again, and her cat ears pop out. Yumeko couldn't stop staring.

Maribel touches her head and smiles saying "YA~Y, this is GREAT! My cute cat ears are back."

She spins in place and winks at them,then asks "do I look cute, anya~?"

Ail's face turns bright red, Shinki's cheeks turn pink and Yumeko fires off twin nosebleed jets, all giving Maribel the thumbs up.

Back at Gensokyo, after Reimu was able to explain who got the scrolls and calming everyone down, they all sit in a circle and discuss the matter.

"Well, the process looks simple enough, however I am concerned." says Reimu.

Patchouli ponders and says "this amount of power... it's impossible, even for a youkai like Yukari or Yuka to maintain this level of power for so long."

then Remilia adds "not to mention that the one that opens the gate has to stay here in order to open the gate again."

Nitori looks at the scroll and says "look, it only asks for this much power, but doesn't specify a source. What if I can build a machine that can generate that much power, so it channels it to the one that does open the gate, filtering it and making it safe as well."

Reimu thinks for a bit and says "that's a wonderful idea... but say... how do you plan to get that much power?"

Nitori ponders for a bit once more and says "we would need lightning in order to power up the machine. After that, the machine I'm planning to build should be able to work non-stop on it's own for days."

Reimu thinks for a bit and says "lightning, huh?"

Reimu goes and visits the heavens and finds Iku.

Immediately Iku says "I know why you're here. My powers are not toys, you know that, right?"

Reimu smiles and says "so you won't do it?"

Iku says "give me one good reason."

Reimu smirks with a glint in her eyes and says "you owe those two... remember what they did for you...?"

Iku bites her bottom lip and says "that was a low blow."

then Reimu says "so I can count on your cooperation?"

Iku perks up and smiling, she says "just tell me what to do, then."

Reimu sighs with a smile and says "alright. I'll come get you when it's ready."

and then she leaves saying "don't worry, she didn't see me." and then flies away.

Iku looks at the horizon and thinks "those two did a lot more than just help me... if it wasn't for them..."

then she starts remembering an image of Tenshi holding the Sword of Hisou and looking down on her, lifting her sword and ready to strike.

Iku smiles and says "for those two, I guess I can make exceptions."

From above her, Tenshi quietly flies away, then follows Reimu back down.

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail was created by Willie G.R.

JUL 20 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	4. Chapter 3

And so, at Gensokyo there is a plan to get Ail and Maribel back from Makai is in motion. After enlisting the aid of Iku Nagae, Reimu returns to the shrine, not knowing she was being followed quietly by Tenshi Hinanai. Meanwhile at Makai, Ail and Maribel are being treated as guest, however Yumeko is treating them, particularly Ail, with hostility. It's only a matter of time before a fight breaks out in there.

Ail wakes up to a beautiful morning at Makai. There was only one window in his room, and he had to fly up to see through it. The sky was beautiful, fluffy white clouds all over, a beautiful light shining down to the dead land, however there was no sun.

"Two days in here and I still can't get used to the sunless sky. Ah well... it's still beautiful."

Ail said to himself while he continued to look outside. He comes down and heads to the door, and immediately upon opening it, he is greeted by Maribel.

"Good morning, mister Ail. Had a good sleep?"

Ail gets a little startled. He wasn't expecting her to be up so early, but he smiles at her and says

"yes, thanks for asking. How about you?"

She sighs and says "it was the most wonderful sleep I've ever had... Did you know with these cat ears, I can hear things from very far away?"

Ail smiles and nods saying "is that so? You seem to like those ears huh?"

then he thinks "dang, that Mima. Why did she want me to turn to a cat? I've already been half-dog... why half cat too?"

and while he thinks this, Maribel says "are you kidding? I hope I can keep them! It's the most magical thing that has happened to me *giggle*. Plus, they make me look REALLY cute, don't you think?"

She wiggle those ears and Ails turns around to hide his face which was bright red again, but after he does, her realizes Yumeko was right behind him, her nose dripping some blood. She uses a handkerchief and cleans herself up and says

"breakfast is served. My lady Shinki will be waiting for you."

She casually walks toward Maribel, Ail looking at her suspiciously, as if waiting for a sudden attack. Yumeko turns to Maribel and politely says "please, follow me."

then she turns to Ail with a murderous look in her face and says "you can follow if you want."

Ail bows his head saying "thank you." and as they went to dinning room Ail thinks

"I better find a way out of here soon or there's going to be trouble."

At Gensokyo, at the mountains way behind the Hakurei Shrine, Nitori works diligently on her machine. Reimu was just watching Nitori work, while Renko would help her as much as she could, and Keine and Mima would bring food and drinks. Sounding quite casual, Reimu asks

"how long will it take you to finish that machine?"

Nitori, naturally, gets a bit annoyed and says "well, miss maiden, even with some HELP, it might take me at least two days to finish this, IF all goes at planned."

Reimu lazily looks back at Nitori and says "nothing ever goes according to plan, so I guess It'll take a couple of days, huh?"

Nitori turns back around and resumes working on her machine, without answering Reimu. Reimu yawns, then starts flying back to the shrine saying

"fine, I'll leave you alone then. Geez, what a pain."

Upon arriving at the shrine, Reimu immediately notices something was missing, so after landing she rushes inside the shrine, but it was empty. "Crap, where is she!?"

Reimu looks all around the shrine, then gasps and says "wait... she DIDN'T! I must stop her!"

and just as Reimu rushes to the gate, Tenshi gets in her way saying "Reimu! You have to fight me!"

Reimu glares at her and says "not now, not NOW! Yorihime's gone and-"

"Excuses will not save you! You MUST fight with me!" interrupted Tenshi.

Reimu slaps her forehead hard and asks "and WHY must I fight with you!?"

Tenshi smiles and says "I caused an incident. I closed off all the exits at the village!"

Reimu lazily looks at Tenshi saying "and...?"

Tenshi sweats a little and then adds "a-a-and, err...and I... planted a peach, right under your shrine!"

Reimu keeps looking quite uninterested and says "it won't grow without water or sunlight."

Tenshi opens her eyes wide and says "FINE, you smart-ass!!! Take THIS!"

She snaps her fingers, and a large keystone falls on the shrine, breaking a large chunk off the roof and the floor. Tenshi grins as Reimu looks at her shrine and shouts

"what the he~ll! What the hell was that for, you annoying celestial!? Ooh, you're gonna GET IT!"

Immediately, Reimu takes her gohei and starts pummeling Tenshi to the ground, then she kicks her hard, sending her spinning in the air, then she sends various homing charms at her, then teleports and shoots various needles and just before Tenshi falls to the ground, Reimu grabs a spell card and shouts

"DIVINE ARTS! OMNIDIRECTIONAL DEMON BINDING CIRCLE!"

An expansive barrier forms around Reimu, who was just under Tenshi, hitting her hard with the spell.

At the Human village, Yorihime kept sneaking around and asking people about Eirin and the Moon Princess Kaguya. Everyone just looked at her funny and she was just about to give up, but then...

"excuse me, young child." says Yorihime, as a child walks by with a book on history on his hands.

The boy turns around and just stares at her as she asks "pardon me for bothering you, but I am looking for a woman named Eirin. She wears red and blue clothes with symbols of constellations on them, and her hat has a red cross on it."

The child looks at her funny, and just before Yorihime gives up, the child says

"can't say that I know her, but I do know there are some strange aliens living in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. One of them wears clothes like that. Maybe it's her."

Yorihime smiles and says "yes, it HAS to be her. Thank you so much. Err.. where's the-"

the child points behind her and smiles. Yorihime rubs the child's head saying "thank you very much!"

and heads to exit the village, but suddenly she notices something strange and decides to hide behind one of the houses. It was Reisen. Yorihime could not believe her eyes... her old pet, Reisen, was right there. She wanted to get closer, but she though that Reisen might just run away if she did. She noticed Reisen carrying a lot of medicine with her.

Yorihime thinks "no doubt about it. Reisen and Eirin are together. Those are Eirin's medicines alright. What luck, to find little Reisen here, and now she's going to lead me straight to Eirin, I'm sure. Most certainly, Princess Kaguya is with them as well. Ooh, this is gonna be great!"

Yorihime waited for Reisen to finish what she was doing and started to follow her back to Entei. Reisen was no fool and knew someone was following her, so she uses her powers to manipulate wavelengths and tries and confuse her pursuer, however Yorihime remained unaffected.

Reisen thinks "what's this? Whoever is following me is either immune to my powers... or quite determined. I better make my stand now, before it's too late."

Reisen turns around quickly and shouts "who's there!? Show yourself! What is it that you want from me!?" but nobody answered.

Reisen kept looking around, pointing her finger all around. From behind her, Yorihime says "it's been a while, hasn't it, Reisen?"

Reisen turns around and points her finger at Yorihime, not realizing who she was. Yorihime just kept smiling at her, and slowly, her memories about Yorihime and Toyohime came back. Reisen opens her eyes as wide as she could, then drops her guard, the backpack and quickly backs away, whimpering. Yorihime looks at her a bit surprised and says

"Reisen? Are you alright? You look as though you've just seen a ghost or something."

Reisen kept backing away until she reached a wall of bamboo and couldn't back away anymore. She started to tremble so violently, she dropped to the ground saying "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu was besides herself with anger and yelling

"and you BETTER make it look like NEW, you HEAR!"

Tenshi, full of bruises, bumps and yet still smiling, was fixing the damaged she caused to the shrine all by herself. Mima arrives at the shrine with empty plates and cups and says

"whoa..! Hey Reimu, what happened to the shrine?"

Reimu glares at Mima and smiles that blood-thirsty smile and says "nothing some mighty and annoying celestial can't fix!"

Mima's face turns blue as she shakes and says "alright, alright. I'm sorry!"

and then she rushes inside the shrine whimpering "I was JUST asking what happened. It's not like I did anything..."

and then, as if nothing had happened, Mima says "hey Reimu. Where's the Lunarian?"

Reimu snaps out of it, panics and shouts "CRAP!!! I forgot all about that!"

Reimu hurriedly hands Mima a thick black whip, three charms and says

"I'll go look for Yorihime. You stay here and make sure SHE finishes fixing the roof and floors and make sure she POLISHES the floor when she's done."

Mima looks at Reimu a bit confused, but nods. Reimu then flies to the village in a hurry. Mima looks at Tenshi, who had just finished fixing and painting the roof. She smiles at the celestial, and then starts whipping her saying

"work faster! Fix that floor, paint those wall, WORK, WORK, WORK!!!"

Tenshi smiles as she hurriedly worked and said "ow! Yes, sir! Just don't stop working that whip!"

Mima stops whipping Tenshi and looks at her in total disbelief and asks "huh? You actually WANT me to beat you up?"

Tenshi nods with a painful, yet happy expression in her face. Mima sits down then says

"fine... but first you finish fixing and polishing that floor and then-"

*Bang bang bang bang! Swish swish. Mop mop mop* "DONE!" shouted Tenshi.

The floors looked as if nothing had ever happened to them. Mima looked at Tenshi quite impressed but kept quiet.

Tenshi keeps staring at her and says "I said I was done... hit me!"

Mima was quite surprised as Tenshi said "It's ok, I'm a celestial. It won't hurt one bit!"

Mima springs up and says "are you saying you WANT me to beat you up with this!?"

Tenshi nods and Mima panics and tries to run away, however the charms Reimu gave her were now stuck to her hand and wouldn't allow her to leave the shrine.

Tenshi smirks and says "listen, you spineless hag, if you satisfy me, I'll be glad to take those off you..."

Mima gets really pissed off and shouts "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME~!!?"

From outside, Keine comes with one more empty plate and two cups and heard the crack of a whip and someone inside saying "more, more master! Give me more!"

Keine's face turns red and she rushes to the shrine shouting "what the HELL is going on-- *gulp* EH!?"

Inside was Tenshi, crouching and holding on to her head as Mima kept beating her with the whip. When they realize Keine was there, Mima, looking shocked, and Tenshi, looking as if though in pain, but happy about it, both look back at Keine, who slowly backs away and says

"err... never mind... I'll just... Yeah..."

Keine walks back from where she came, her face as white as a sheet, then inside the shrine, Tenshi takes one of the charms off Mima's hand and says "two more to go, you decrepit spirit!*grin*"

Mima blows fire from her mouth shouting "WHAT DID YO CALL ME, you masochistic FREAK!?" and so the whipping continues.

At the Bamboo Forest, Reisen was holding her ears, repeating "I'm sorry" to Yorihime, who looked quite puzzled.

She gets closer to Reisen and softly says "it's alright. I understand if you don't want to go back, b--"

just a Yorihime was about to touch Reisen, an arrow flies right in front of her face. She immediately flips backward and unsheathes her sword, but upon seeing who it was, she lowers her blade and lets it drop to the ground saying

"i... is that you? Eirin?"

Holding her bow and aiming at Yorihime, who shivers a little and says "it- it's me... Yorihime..."

Eirin keeps aiming at her for a moment, then lowers her bow and says "Yorihime... how long have you been here?"

Eirin smiles as Yorihime gets closer. She smiles back at Eirin and gives her a hug just as soon as they were in range of each other. Reisen gets up and picks up her backpack as quietly as she could, but stayed away from them and only looked.

"I'm sorry" said Eirin, "but we can't let you go in any further."

Yorihime gets back and smiles saying "I understand."

Eirin looks at Reisen and says "Udonge, come say hello!"

"Udonge?" asks Yorihime, "a flower?"

Reisen gets closer, but wouldn't smile and kept looking down and wouldn't talk. Yorihime pats her on the head and says "you changed her name?"

Eirin says "well, she needed a new name for her new life. So how are you planning to return to the moon?"

Yorihime boastfully says "well, when the next full moon comes I'll... err..."

Eirin smiles and says "you don't have any means to return, do you?"

Yorihime looks a bit ashamed and says "err... that is..."

Eirin pats her on the shoulder and says "just wait until those two kids return. They'll send you home right away."

Yorihime looks at Eirin in the eyes and was about to say something, but Eirin says

"I can't let you find out where we live. You must understand." and just then, a loud explosion and many curses get their attention.

Kaguya and Mokou were having another one of their fights right above them. Eirin covers half of her face with her right hand and says to herself "of all the possible moments..."

Yorihime looks at the two immortals go at each other, cursing each other, firing heavy energies at each other.

"What's the meaning of this?" asked Yorihime.

Eirin tells her "look, it's nothing. Just go back to the shrine and-"

but Yorihime wasn't listening and rushed to face Mokou along side Kaguya.

At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia summons Sakuya. Patchouli was beside Remilia, listening to their conversation.

"Sakuya" said Remilia, "I want you to join the search party that will go inside Makai to look for Ail and Maribel."

Sakuya bows, saying "as you wish, my lady... but why the sudden interest?"

Remilia smiles a most wicked smile and says "I want you to scout around Makai, and bring me as much information as you can."

Sakuya looks at Remilia a bit confused and Remilia continues

"I want to make Makai my own. I am sure I'll impress Reimu with this, and it would also serve to show the world the power I possess!" Remilia clenches her fist while grinning as she said that.

Sakuya smiles as she start to bleed through her nose, saying "you are just wonderful, my lady!"

Remilia winds down and sits on her chair saying "yes, I know."

Sakuya bows and says "then I shall leave at once, my lady."

After Sakuya leaves, Patchouli says "my lady, are you sure about this? We don't know how powerful the beings in there are."

Remilia grins, bearing her fangs, saying "he~, Patchy? Do you doubt my powers?"

Patchouli calmly says "of course not. It's just that I haven't really found that much information about that place. I'm worried."

Remilia continues to smirk, while some shadow looms behind her, moving quietly from left to right and back. Remilia says

"don't worry, Patchy. With the information we get from Sakuya, we'll be able to accomplish my goal with ease. Just wait an- KYAAH~!"

Flandre quietly sneaks behind her sister and grabs her hip and starts to tickle her, startling Remilia to the point of shivering.

"Onee-chan? What's the matter?"

Flandre looks at her sister quite puzzled as Remilia shivers on the ground. She gets up, coughs and tries to hide her shame saying

"nothing... I was just acting. Fooled you, didn't I?"

Flandre giggles and says "sis, you're the best. I love you~!"

Remilia looks away to hide her face and her nosebleed and very quietly says "I love you too sis..."

Patchouli had buried her face in her book and was trying hard not to laugh, but she let out a bit of a chuckle. Remilia immediately gets besides Patchouli, who knew she was in trouble now, then says

"Flan~, it seems Patchy loves you so~ much, she wants to play with you~."

Patchouli was now shaking and tried to debate that particular fact with Remilia, however Flandre had already jumped to the chair in front of her and with an angelic smile, she says

"read me a story~"

Remilia smiles as she leaves the room. Patchouli's face got red as she looked at Flandre's smile and feeling defeated, she asks

"*sigh* what story shall I read for you, young mistress?"

Sakuya arrives at the Hakurei shrine at late noon and finds Yukari there, looking for Reimu. Immediately after landing Yukari says

"if you're looking for Reimu, you'll have to get in line. Seems there's been some trouble at the alien's residence."

When Sakuya looks at the direction of the Bamboo Forest, she sees large explosions.

She sighs and says "how long do you think we'll have to wait?"

Yukari smiles and says "Mima says she's been gone for hours."

Sakuya looks around and Yukari smiles again and says "I wouldn't if I were you..."

Sakuya looks inside the shrine and sees Mima and Tenshi drinking heavily and holding each other by the shoulder and singing, then Mima stops for a second and says

"if only the hunk were here..."

When Sakuya looks further inside, there was Suika pouring more sake in Mima's cup and says "stop complaining so much and just drink!"

Tenshi then adds "hey, hey! You just pour the sake and drink with us... and then err..."

Suika looks at her with a childish smile and says "we drink?"

Tenshi nods saying "yeah, yeah... drink."

Sakuya looks at them in shock and disbelief, then Yukari gets next to her and says with a smile "I warned you."

At the Bamboo forest, Eirin was worried, and was trying to figure a way to stop the battle.

Reimu looks at Eirin and says "I already tried stopping them... it's no use. We have to wait for them to stop on their own."

Eirin looks around and says "there's got to be a way. They'll destroy the forest if they-"

"it's almost over" causally said Reimu, interrupting Eirin. Above the bamboo were Mokou, Kaguya and Yorihime.

"Why-*pant* why are you helping her" asks Mokou who's completely out of breath.

Yorihime, who was quite messed up, yet remains as fresh as when the battle began says "you are attacking princess Kaguya. You MUST be punished!"

Kaguya smirks. She was a little dirty and singed, but since Yorihime was doing all of the fighting, she was just there as a backup. Mokou slowly comes back down to the ground and kneels on the floor, gasping for air. Kaguya and Yorihime both land as well, then Kaguya says

"what's the matter, Mokou? Tired already? Let's say I'm the winner today and you can go home and rest, or you could get a beating and still declare myself the winner."

Mokou glares at Kaguya and pulls out a spell card, shouting

"Possessed by Phoenix!"

Mokou's body vanishes and is replaced by a fiery Phoenix that heads straight to Kaguya, but Yorihime knocks her out of the way as the Phoenix reached her, then it started to release countless bullets all around, so many, in fact, that Yorihime had to summon Ishikoridome no Mikoto shouting

"...and show us the miracles of the Mirror of Yata!"

Many of the shots bounced back as if nothing, while Yorihime deflected those that were directly heading toward her with her sword. The spell card times out and Mokou reappears, falling immediately on the ground. Yorihime sheathes her sword and turns to face Eirin shouting

"Eirin, why didn't you help the princess!?" Eirin smiles a very soothing and peaceful smile and says

"I was trying to finish the fight quickly, but you got in the way."

Yorihime shivers and quickly bows down saying "sorry, sorry, I didn't mean..."

Reisen goes to Yorihime and asks "did she punish you too?"

Yorihime was about to cry when she nods and shivers. Reisen hugs her bawling "they're horrible, aren't they~!?"

Yorihime hugs back crying "I still have nightma~res! Waaah~!"

Reisen and Yorihime were crying so much that Reisen forgot to continue covering Entei with her powers, and suddenly, just like that, behind Eirin, Entei appears.

Yorihime opens her eyes wide and says "so~, you were hiding this from me?"

Reisen panics and suddenly notices Eirin had that evil smile, only this time it felt more ominous as she says "Udonge~~. PUNISHME~NT..."

Inside the mansion of Entei, Yorihime was treated to some tea along with Reimu. After many explosions, bangs, claps, smacks and some bloody screams, Eirin comes out of Reisen's room looking quite satisfied. She joins Reimu and Yorihime, shortly joined by Kaguya, who quickly shouts

"I want tea..."

and form the kitchen comes Tewi with the tea, smiling deviously and gives it to Kaguya. As soon as Kaguya takes a sip she spits it out and shouts "what is IN THIS thing!?"

Tewi pulls out a bottle of hot sauce and says

"some LIFE. As for me, I prefer my OWN brand of tea"

and she pulls out, from under her skirt, a big glass of ale and quickly drinks it. She starts to run, Kaguya angrily shouting and chasing Tewi, trying to catch her. Yorihime looks at the scene in disbelief, but stays quiet.

"This is troublesome" said Eirin, looking very upset.

Reimu casually says "this was bound to happen sooner or later."

Eirin stares daggers at Reimu, who simply continues to act casually.

Eirin then says "I'm sorry, Yorihime, but I cannot allow you to return to the moon now. You know about the princess and our location and that would be dangerous for Udonge and Kaguya if you-"

Yorihime was looking down, looking as though she was about to cry and says

"Toyohime and I really miss you, and we would love it if you returned home."

Eirin looks at Yorihime, who continues to talk as she looked into her teacup, but drinks none.

"I won't force you to return. You must have your reasons to stay here, and honestly I don't want to know them."

Eirin opens her eyes saying "but I can't let you return. You saw where we live and-"

"I had a rough battle. I got hit in the head and woke up inside an abandoned mansion in a confusing bamboo forest next to Reimu, who found me unconscious on the floor."

Eirin was left awestruck. Yorihime got up saying

"miss Reimu? Let's go back to the shrine, please."

Reimu quietly gets up and follows Yorihime out the door. Yorihime looks back one more time and says

"I am so glad I was able to see you all. Please, come visit the shrine before I leave." and so, Reimu and Yorihime walk away.

Eirin looks at Yorihime's teacup.

"She never even touched her tea." though Eirin, who sat alone in that table, just thinking to herself.

After some time, she heads to Reisen's room, kneels directly beside Reisen, and starts passing her fingers through Reisen's hair. Because of the punishment she just received, she couldn't move, however she managed to weakly say

"master... no... crying..." Eirin was a bit shocked at first, but then smiles at the unconscious Reisen, then leaves.

It was getting dark by the time Reimu and Yorihime arrive at the shrine. Immediately upon landing, Yukari heads toward Reimu saying

"Reimu, I have some news for you."

Reimu looks at Yukari looking quite annoyed while Yorihime, who looked a bit angry, simply storms her way inside the shrine. Once inside, she screams and the sound of many bottles crashing together and breaking were accompanied by Yorihime's

"what in blazes is going on here!?"

and Mima and Suika answering "join the party~!"

Reimu lightly shakes her head while Yukari says "well I will be able to open the gate to Makai with the help of that contraption, however you'll have to enter and come out the same way."

Reimu looks at Yukari quite casually, saying "Yeah, I know. We'll have to time the operation on both sides in order to be able to get in and out safely."

Yukari smiles, covers her mouth with her fan and says "oh, then there was no reason for me to tell you after all."

Reimu turns to Sakuya and asks "and why are you here?"

Sakuya politely bows and says "my lady requests that I joined the infiltration party."

Reimu looks at her suspiciously and asks "why the sudden interest?"

Sakuya smiles and says "my lady wants to play another of her games."

Reimu sighs and says "even if I say no, you'll just force yourself in, so I won't stop you."

Sakuya politely bows again saying "thank you."

and just like that Yukari says "well, I have somewhere to be right now, so I'll be leaving."

and in a matter of seconds, she opens a gap and pushes Sakuya inside, and follows immediately after. Reimu looked at the events quite annoyed and puzzled, but decides to ignore this and goes inside the shrine. Once inside she shouts

"what IS all this!?"

Mima says "come on Reimu, join the party!"

Angrily, Reimu shouts at the top of her lungs "CLEAN UP THIS MESS!!!"

then Yorihime causally says "what a strange land this is."

At morning, in the dinning room at Pandemonium, Ail, Maribel, Luize, Shinki, and two other girls were quietly eating breakfast. One of the girls is a blond with yellow eyes and was wearing a long black and white dress with short sleeves and a large white ribbon on the back, and also a black hat with a white ribbon on it. At first, Ail and Maribel though they were looking at Marisa, however this girl was a bit more plump, had more chest, her hat wasn't pointy, and her dress covered down to her shoes. The other girl has light-blue eyes and hair adorned with a white bow, and wears a long white dress and has small white angel wings.

"So, miss Mai, miss Yuki, you are witches that control fire and ice?" asked Maribel with a smile.

The blond witch boastfully says "yup! I'm a master of fire magic!"

Maribel looks at her confused and says "oh wow... since your name is Yuki, I though you were the ice magician."

Yuki smiles and says "Ironic, isn't it!"

Mai rubs her forehead and says "could you please keep it down?"

and as if not even listening, Yuki points to her left and says with a smile "she's the one that's cold as ice."

Maribel wiggles her cat ears and Yuki shouts "Oh my goodness, that's so CUTE!!! Do it again!"

and Maribel did just as Yumeko enters the room, giving her a nosebleed almost immediately. She wipes herself clean and sits down to eat just beside Shinki. Ail was right in front of Shinki and both had finished their breakfast when Ail asks

"my lady Shinki, isn't it about time you told me what happened here. Why did Reimu do all this? Why destroy Makai like that?"

Yumeko springs up angrily shouting "how DARE you speak to my lady like that!? Apologize this instant!"

Shinki lightly pats Yumeko on her forearm, signaling her to sit. She looks directly at Ail and says

"listen carefully. If anyone is at fault of all this, it's me."

Yumeko springs up again, grabs Shinki and starts hugging her tightly saying "my lady should not say things like that!"

Ail gets worried and says "hey, wait! You're suffocating her!"

Yumeko snaps out of it and pulls Shinki away from her. Shinki's eyes were spinning, her face was a bit red, and was mumbling incoherently. Luize takes a sip of her tea and says

"my, it's been a while since we had such a rowdy morning."

then Maribel asks "hey, why won't miss Sara join us?"

Luize smiles saying "that stubborn girl refuses to leave her post. She says 'what if the gate opens up and I'm gone? THEN who's guarding the gate, huh?' and so, she never comes here."

As Luize explains all this, Yuki stretches herself as far as she can to grab some bread, but Yumeko catches on to her, smacks her hand and says

"please ASK someone to pass the bread for you, POLITELY!"

then Yuki grins and says "Ail, could you pass me the bread, politely!?" Yumeko face palms herself hard and sighs.

Right after Shinki recovered from the hug, and Yumeko cleaned the table, Shinki begins to explain about the incident with Reimu.

"It was some time ago. Reimu, a mean youkai, a rude human goddess and a thief by the name of Marisa came here because a travel agency was doing some tourist expeditions to the human world. It was just tourism and they came in here blasting everyone and everything, demanding us to stop going into the human world... we weren't even doing anything wrong. It was just sightseeing!!!"

Ail panics a bit and says "calm down, please. Look, if you won't want to-" but Shinki raises her hand, signaling Ail to stop.

She sighs and says

"sorry about that. Anyway, after blasting their way to me, they started demanding that we stopped visiting the human world. I told them it was the traveling agency at first, but they made me so mad. They were very rude, specially that thieving witch, and that human goddess!"

Ail says "please, excuse me... human goddess?"

Shinki looked at Ail a bit confused and says "yes. She had long green hair and wore blue clothes, and had a silly pointy hat as well... I can't believe human gods can be that rude."

Ail looks away and thinks "Mima... what a LIAR!"

then he turns to Shinki and says "umm, that human goddess...? She's an evil spirit... not a goddess."

Shinki gets up from her chair and sprouted 6 white wings, which shot various aimless white energy balls at Ail.

Ail gets behind the chair and says "Ahh, I'm sorry! Didn't mean to offend you!"

Suddenly, Shinki calms down and says "oh my... sorry about that."

Yumeko was holding her nose high on to the air, trying to hold back the blood with a white cloth while Luize, Mai and Yuki all huddled in a corner, shivering in fear, and Maribel just stared with curiosity, still sitting on her chair.

Shinki calms down once more, and they all sit down again to continue to listen to Shinki's story.

"Now where was I? Oh... yeah..."

Shinki lowers her eyes, getting really sad.

Ail looks at her and though "you don't have to force yourself." but Shinki stares back and nods.

She takes a deep breath and says

"well, the thing is that after all they had done to my children and their rudeness... I started to fight with them. I couldn't stop them with normal means, so I gradually got angry and augmented my powers. They were just toying with me. I could see them laughing as I tried my best, which made me so mad! In the end, I had used so much power when I tried to stop them... I destroyed Makai in the process."

Shinki closes her eyes and some tears fall to the ground.

Still crying she continued "they beat me, insulted me, they hurt my children, but in the end I destroyed Makai on my own *sob*"

Yumeko places her hand on Shinki's shoulder, trying to comfort her. Ail sat there quietly, resting his head on the back of his hands then says

"well I am inclined to believe all that, but I can't really believe Makai was destroyed."

Shinki looks at Ail confused and Ail continues saying "the land is hurt, but it's recovering... haven't you noticed?"

Maribel adds "yeah, around that signpost, there were some trees coming back to life. And Sara told me birds will come back soon."

Shinki keeps staring at them then Ail continues "not to mention that your children don't resent anything at all. They continue to live... and by the looks of things, as rowdy as ever" he looks at Yuki, Mai and Luize when he says this.

Maribel then says "to me it sounds that all that happened was just a big accident. These things happen, you know."

She wiggles her ears and smiles at Shinki.

Shinki smiles back as Ail says "and thanks to that, Reimu did this..." and shows Shinki a spell card saying

"...with these, Reimu managed to make us all regulate our powers so something like this never happens again. I don't know why these things happen, but they do, and for a reason, so please..."

Maribel gets in front of Ail and holds Shinki's hands and says "please lady Shinki, don't be sad. If you get sad, how do you expect to rebuild Makai."

Shinki looks into Maribel's eyes and beings to smile. After a while she started to cry again, however she was laughing as she did, and Maribel laughed with her, still holding her hands. Ail smiles as well, while Yumeko glares at him, so he turns his face away. Suddenly, a ball of white light comes from Shinki to Maribel, filling her up with some sort of spell, then suddenly Maribel was flying and as she did she shouts

"Oh my... look, look!!!"

She starts to fly around, spinning in the air, twirling and laughing and then softly lands and says "YAY!!! I can fly, I can fly~!"

Shinki smiles and laughs as Ail looks at her surprised saying

"Wow... I did the same thing when I started flying", then he too smiles and laughs as Maribel flies up once more, twirling and spinning around...

until she crashed against a wall and says "I'm ok!"

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail was created by Willie G.R.

JUL 23 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	5. Chapter 4

At Gensokyo, Yorihime ventured into the Bamboo Forest of the Lost and was reunited with Reisen, Kaguya and Eirin, however Eirin kept insisting that due to her knowledge of their whereabouts, she had to stay on in Gensokyo, so Yorihime, feeling quite bitter, left the premises saying that it was an illusion due to battle exhaustion. After returning to the shrine, Yukari warned Reimu about the dangers of their plans to enter Makai, but Reimu already knew, so Yukari hastily leaves, taking Sakuya, who had just been accepted to join the Makai infiltration party, to unknown whereabouts. At Makai, Shinki told Ail and Maribel the story of what had happened last time Reimu was there, getting depressed in the process. Ail and Maribel did their best to cheer her up, which somehow ended in Maribel gaining the ability to fly after some light that came from Shinki's hands passed on to her.

After crashing a few more times inside the palace, Mai, Yuki, Luize, Yumeko and Shinki decide to take Maribel outside before she either hurts herself, or destroys the palace. Ail quietly follows them out while Yumeko kept turning about and glares at him. He ignores her and just continues looking elsewhere while following them.

Immediately outside, Maribel lifts off with a "WEEEE~" and starts to fly around.

"It's been a while since we fooled around like that... I think I'm joining her" said Yuki immediately following Maribel, and flying around for fun.

Mai rubs her forehead saying in an undertone "such a child"

then Luize follows as well, all three giggling and laughing while they fly around, twirling around each other, almost crashing a few times. Yumeko kept glaring at Ail, and now Ail was starting to get a bit irritated by this, however he just looks away and tries to ignore her. Shinki was too distracted by the three flying girls to notice anything else.

Just after the three girls finally stop and come down, Mai approaches Ail.

"So, I hear you are quite powerful" said Mai to Ail.

Ail raises his sight to meet hers as she says "would you like a little friendly mach?"

At first Ail kept quiet and just looked back, but then he smiles, forgetting all about Yumeko and says "well, as long as it's just a friendly match, I don't mind."

Suddenly Yuki shouts "AWESOME! Can I join!?"

Mai slaps her forehead just as Maribel says "Ooh, I wanna join too!"

Ail looks at her surprised and says "but Maribel... you don't have that much power... you might get hurt."

Maribel simply smiles, then Mai says "Let's make this interesting. Me and Maribel against you and Yuki. What do you say?"

Before Ail says anything, Yuki wraps her arm around his neck and says "of course we accept. Get ready to lose, sis!"

Ail thinks "Great... now Maribel's gonna get hurt and Reimu is gonna blame ME!"

The three girls fly above the large lake and get into position. Ail stretches a bit and just before he lifts off, Yumeko grabs him by the neck of his cloak and says

"you watch it, mister! You harm a single one of those girls and I'll have your neck!"

Ail glares back and forcefully pushes Yumeko's hand off from his cloak.

"Listen you--!!!" shouts Ail, but he just stops, sighs and flies away quite irritated.

When he arrives, Maribel immediately notices his face and asks "mister Ail!? What's the matter?"

Ail takes a deep breath and says "nothing... it's nothing really" and then smiles as he usually does.

All four float above the lake, ready to start their little game. It was Ail and Yuki vs. Mai and Maribel. Mai faces Ail while Yuki faces Maribel. Shinki was alongside Luize, sitting by the palace entrance and watching their little game while Yumeko would serve them some tea and cookies.

Mai shouts "ok, the first team to be knocked out or admit defeat loses! Any questions?"

Ail says "short, simple and easy to understand" then Yuki and Ail say at the same time "let's get it on!" and the game starts.

Ail and Mai fly around as if they were synchronized, Mai shooting chunks of ice, while Ail shot small white energy balls at her. They stop and separate then start shooting at each other once more, each shot crashing against one another, then they continue to fly around and shooting.

Maribel and Yuki looked as though they were just dancing around in the air, then Maribel shoots various pink energies shaped like hearts at Yuki, who dodges them, smiles and says

"not bad. I don't know why Ail was so worried about you. You're like a little power bomb... WHOA!"

Yuki ducks just as some hearts fly right above her head, then Maribel giggles and says "sorry~" then continues to shoot.

Yuki shoots a few small fireballs toward Maribel, but she just starts to dance in the air, dodging the shots, then giggles and flies away,

Yuki shouting "hey, no running!" then Maribel shouts back "I'm not running!"

Yuki scratches her head and says "oh... that's right" then chases her, shooting more small fireballs her way.

Ail and Mai continue to fly around almost synchronized, firing at each other, each shot crashing against the other, then Mai stops and smiles

"heh heh, not bad for a human. I guess I don't need to hold back with you."

Ail smiles and says "glad to know."

Mai shines for a bit and her small angel wings turn to large white demon wings.

Ail was quite impressed saying "whoa, not bad. I most certainly was NOT expecting that to happen."

Mai smirks and says "heh- Let's play some more."

Both Ail and Mai are now flying so fast that Luize is having trouble keeping up with them, while Yuki and Maribel keep dancing around, shooting randomly at each other.

Mai suddenly stops following Ail, and he stops as well after realizing she was just floating around at the moment. There was now plenty of room between them. Mai smiles at him, then smirks, and suddenly she shoots a small laser beam, moving it to wherever he went, however she couldn't move it fast enough, so she suddenly started shooting some thick blue beams that follow him wherever he was. While dodging her laser, Ail dodges the blue beams, but they just come back after him.

"Whoa. Those are seekers!" shouted Ail as he speeds up, the blue beams behind him.

Mai smiles and continues to try and nail him with her laser, but he goes straight to her, leading the two seeking blue beams straight at her.

She dodges just in time shouting "WHOA! Hey, that's cheating!"

The blue beams stopped following Ail and just vanish.

Ail smiles at Mai saying "not bad at all. Let's see if you can keep that up." then starts shooting at her with his own homing lasers and focused blasts.

Yuki started shooting larger fireballs at Maribel, who simply twirls in the air, avoiding the massive shots and shooting many pink hearts all around. Because of her twirling around the hearts spin as they fly toward Yuki at great speeds. Yuki has some trouble dodging the hearts, yelping, squeaking, shrieking and shouting as she dodged.

"Whoa! I'm gonna have to us my best to beat you after all!" said Yuki, ducking just as a heart flies just above her head.

She concentrates, which startle Maribel who asks "Yuki? A-are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Suddenly Yuki smiles wickedly and starts shooting large fireballs in arcs, followed by fiery arrows. Maribel shrieks and starts flying away, dodging as best she could. One of the fires touches the bottom of her dress, singing it a little, then Maribel turns around and start shooting again, blasting the fires out of the skies then shouting

"hey, you almost burn my dress... EEP!"

She flies away once more once she sees the large barrage of fireball arcs headed her way.

Maribel and Mia regroup, followed shortly by Yuki and Ail. Yuki raises her left arm in the air shouting

"YEAH! We're winning!"

Mai and Maribel huddle, Ail and Yuki wondering what was going on.

"We better do something, or we're going to lose, and I don't want to lose to Yuki!" whispers Mai.

Maribel giggles and says "how about we surprise them. Switch opponents?"

Mai smirks and says "I like the way you think. Alright, let's catch them off-guard!"

Yuki looks at them then says "he~y, if you're gonna bore us to submission, just say so already!"

Mai and Maribel break up and position themselves to face their opponents; Maribel facing Yuki and Mai facing Ail. Suddenly they both lunge toward their opponents, readying their magic. Yuki and Ail stance in a defensive manner, waiting for their opponent's moves, but very suddenly, Mai and Maribel switch opponent while in mid-air and shoot at them, catching them off-guard, Maribel landing a few hearts on Ail, and Mai nailing Yuki on her chest.

Three hearts pass right above Ail's head, then suddenly an indigo colored gap opens just behind Yuki as Mai's shots land on her chest once more, sending her into the gap which closes just as Ail tries to grab her arm.

"YUKI!" shouts Ail.

Maribel gasps while Mai shouts "Shit! Yuki! What happened!? Yuki!"

Down below, Yumeko grits her teeth, Luize covers her mouth with her hand saying "oh my... what just happen?" and Shinki's eyes fill with tears.

She immediately gets up and flies toward Ail, her face in shock, her lips trembling. Yumeko follows after a bit. Ail had opened another gap and was looking inside, hoping to find Yuki, but the gap was red in color, and inside was nothing but darkness as far as he could see.

As soon as Ail closes the gap, he realizes Shinki was right in front of him. He immediately noticed the concern and fear on her face. Before he could say anything, she grabs him by his neck and shouts

"what happened to my Yuki!? What did you do to her!!?"

Ail gasps for air and somehow manages to say "please... it was... an accident...!"

Shinki suddenly grows 6 large violet demon wings with red markings on them as well as releasing countless dark energy balls. She lets go of Ail and flies higher, then starts to summon immense amounts of power to her. Yumeko grabs Maribel and Mai, then pulls them back down. Ail was sensing the power that Shinki was about to unleash and rushes to her shouting

"NO~! Lady Shinki, don't! Calm down!"

She suddenly begins shooting at Ail countless fire spikes, lasers, and black energy balls, all using intense amounts of energy. Just as Ail reaches her, his "Light Sign, Holy Dance" spell card activates on it's own, surrounding Ail and Shinki in a white energy ball that stops Shinki's own shots inside of it.

Yumeko panics and shouts "LADY SHINKI!!!"

Luize starts to sweat and says "This is not good! They are both using too much power."

Yumeko was pacing desperately looking for someway to stop them, then she stops. Luize, Maribel, Mai and Yumeko look inside the ball of light and saw Shinki and Ail hugging each other tenderly, holding on tightly. They all blush, Yumeko gulping loudly and quietly saying

"lady... Shinki?"

Inside the ball of light, Ail and Shinki were so scared, they where trembling violently. They both hold each other, trembling in fear and Shinki shouting "what's going on!?"

and Ail at the same time shouts "what's happening here!?"

Yumeko was getting angry and shouts "that PERVERT!"

Maribel gasps and then flies up, getting close to the white sphere, then she shoots one of her own hearts, and the white sphere disappears almost immediately after the heart touches it. Ail and Shinki both fall unconscious, so Yumeko and Luize fly up fast to catch them, Yumeko heading straight toward her mistress, Luize catching Ail by the back of his cloak.

Once back down, Shinki and Ail regain consciousness almost at the same time. Yumeko lifts her mistress and hugs her tight shouting

"Lady Shinki! Oh I'm so glad your alright! Did he do anything to you!?"

Yumeko lets go of Shinki who just moans a little then asks "what...?"

Yumeko then continues shouting "did he touch anything!? What did that pervert do!? Ooh, if that depraved monster did anything to you, I'm going to KILL HIM!"

Shinki was rubbing her head and asks "Yumeko... what are you talking about?"

Ail sits up and groans a bit, rubbing his own head and saying "what's all the noise about?"

Yumeko grabs him by his shoulders and shakes him violently, shouting

"you PERVERT! What did you to do my lady Shinki!? Give back her innocence, you perverted monster!"

As soon as she stops shaking him, Ail growls pushing her away and shouts

"Who the HELL are you calling a PERVERT!?"

Ail suddenly realizes everyone, even Maribel was looking at him with accusing eyes. Shinki was still sitting in a daze, rubbing her head and trying to compose herself.

Mai then says "not only did you kill Yuki, but you then force yourself on our lady!? We will never forgive you!"

Ail gets up and backs away turning pale for a moment, then his face start turning red with rage then says "what's the MATTER with you!? Maribel, you too?"

Maribel looks down and says "I'm sorry... but we saw you holding Shinki real close to you and..."

then Yumeko interrupts Maribel shouting "you are just a pervert that came to destroy us all. You wanted to have your way with our lady before you finished her off. Yeah, it all makes sense! That's how perverts like you think!"

Ail grits his teeth and says "I am not a PERVERT!"

He soon realizes that all but Shinki and Maribel, who kept looking down, were glaring at him. His face turns red then he shouts

"for YOUR information, Yuki is ALIVE AND WELL and in... gah, never mind. You can all just go to HELL for all I care!"

and he then flies away with such force, he pushes Luize and Yumeko back a bit, and all that could be seen was a beam of light getting away.

Early noon at Gensokyo, The Forest of Magic, inside Marisa's house. Marisa was sitting on a desk with some books, a pen and some ink and just thinking. She was only wearing a white sleeveless shirt and her drawers while she studied, when she suddenly heard an explosion coming from the Bamboo Forest. She looks out the window and sees Yorihime and Mokou fighting above the bamboo.

She smiles and says "ah, something fun, ze!"

She rushes to the attic and dresses in her usual black and white witch get-up then heads to the front door. Just outside her house, and indigo gap opens up and from inside come Yuki, landing almost perfectly, if it wasn't for a small twig that makes her trip.

"Ow~" shouts Yuki.

She looks around thinking "wow... so green. Wait... this isn't my home. I wonder where I am?"

She gets up and continues to look around, spotting Marisa's house. She heads to the door thinking "might as well ask someone where I am."

Just as she was about to knock on the door, Marisa opens it and both look at each other in the eyes. Marisa and Yuki both looks at each other surprised, then at the same time, Marisa raises her left hand, while Yuki raises her right at the same time, then they lower their hands at the same time and stick their tongues out.

Marisa thinks "A mirror?" as Yuki thinks at the same time "a spell?"

Marisa and Yuki both lift up their skirts for a second, then pull them back down at the same time, then they start posing and look at each other from behind, then turn around again, tucking in their stomachs, and turning side-ways.

Yuki asks "wow... am I really that flat chested?" then at the same Marisa asks "do I really look this old!?"

At the same time they point at each other, Yuki with her right hand, Marisa with her left and both say "HEY!"

then Marisa asks "who are you calling flat-chested!?" and at the same time Yuki asks "who are you calling old!?"

Both drop their fingers saying "huh?" then finally Marisa pokes hard on Yuki's forehead.

Yuki flinches and says "HEY! That was rude!" then Marisa gets shocked saying "whoa, she's real!"

Back at Makai at late noon Ail had stopped far away from the palace and sat under the same dry tree where he and Maribel slept on their first night in there. He was sitting there, just grumbling and mumbling to himself, then he turns and launches a punch to the tree, making his fist bleed on impact. When he pulls his fist out of the hole he had just made on the tree and noticing the blood, he looks at his knuckles and says "great!"

As he starts pulling off the few splinters he mumbles "calling me a pervert... and Yuki... and she's not dead... dammit, I'm not a pervert!"

Soon after he started to fall asleep. Quietly from behind, just as he closes his eyes, Yumeko lands and quietly approaches him thinking

"I'll make you pay with your blood for disgracing my lady." She pulls out a dagger with a golden hilt and positions it to stab Ail as he slept. She lunges the blade straight at the back of his neck, but she is suddenly stopped. Ail had grabbed her arm just in time and using his blood he slips the dagger off from Yumeko's hand. He lets her go and she backs away.

Glaring menacingly at her Ail says "this is what you wanted, right!? Let's fight here and now, no holding back! The winner goes home, the loser dies."

Yumeko smiles and says "brave of you, but very foolish. I promise to make you pay for all the damage you have caused, you depraved monster."

Ail lunges toward Yumeko with the dagger in his hand and shouting "you insolent BITCH! Stop calling me a PERVERT!"

He almost caught Yumeko off guard, but she managed to teleport herself away just in time. Ail pulls the dagger from the ground and says "if you're scared, then GO HOME and LEAVE-ME-ALONE!"

Yumeko appears a few feet behind Ail and says "I see you weren't kidding after all."

She pulls out four dagger in each hand and says "fine. When I go home, I'll tell Maribel you fell in battle, cowering at the feet of your enemy."

Ail smirks and says "you talk too much!" and lunges directly at her, holding on to the dagger he stole from her and clashing it against the daggers on her hand so hard, sparks few off from the blades.

Back at Marisa's house in Gensokyo, after knocking on Marisa's door for about an hour, Yuki is finally let inside.

"So your name is Yuki? Sounds familiar... have we ever met?" asks Marisa.

Yuki looks at her in shock and says "well of COURSE we met, miss Marisa. At Makai, remember? There was another girl with me. She was wearing white!"

Marisa snaps her fingers, points at Yuki and says "of course, Makai, ze! So how are things in there?"

Yuki thinks for a bit and says "well, after you provoked lady Shinki, it's been a bit of a mess, but it's actually ok in there."

Marisa sweats and says "Oh... heh, glad to hear that. Um... so how is it you ended here in Gensokyo again?"

Yuki sighs loudly and says "I told you, I don't know. One minute I was beside Ail having a blast, then all of a sudden I'm in the wrong end of an ice barrage and then I end up here."

Marisa widens her eyes and asks "you were with Ail? Brown, messy hair, brownish-gold eyes, violet shirt, black pants, brown boots and brown cloak?"

Yuki nods saying "yes, yes, that's him. Oh, but his cloak was sky blue, not brown."

Marisa scratches her head and says "huh... another wardrobe change. Well, you must tell Reimu what you know..."

Yuki twitches and says "Re-...Reimu?"

Marisa smiles and says "sure. Aww, don't worry, ze. She's not that mean once you get to know her. Oh... but before we go see Reimu, there's someone else you just HAVE to visit."

Marisa puts on her hat and grabs her broom saying "come on! Let's go."

Yuki follows Marisa outside and just as Marisa closes the door, they both fly up, Yuki saying "my nose itches. Will you scratch it?"

then Marisa replies "no way, ze!"

Back at Makai, it was already dark. Yumeko and Ail continued their battle. Both were cut and bruised all over, their clothes stained with blood. Ail had one dagger in each hand, using them to defend against Yumeko's barrage of flying daggers. Ail lunges at Yumeko, but she dodges just in time with a twirl, however she gets another cut on her left arm. Yumeko immediately shoots a dagger to Ail, stabbing him on his left thigh. Ail pulls it off and smiles at her as they size each other.

Yumeko pulls out two more daggers and holds them downward. They both lunge toward each other, clashing their daggers, sending out sparks as they did, Ail looking fiercely at Yumeko, whom continues to glare at him. They back away, making their daggers send out spark as they did, then Yumeko starts shooting two blue lasers at Ail, accompanied by a rain of blue knives and white energy balls. As Ail dodged, she surrounded him with daggers, all launching at him from all sides. All around, even on his head, Ail was covered with knives, his blood spilling all over the ground as he fell.

Breathing heavily, Yumeko gets close to his body and says "I guess *pant* that I'm *pant* the winner!"

She inspects his body closely, but then Ail suddenly wakes up, blasting her with one of his focused shots on her face.

"ARGH!" Yumeko holds her face and shouts "You bastard! I can't see!"

Ail takes all the daggers off from his body, then promptly pulls the two on his head off. Somehow, he summons his "Blast Sign, Expansion that Soothes" spell without using a spell card, then quietly gets closer to her.

Yumeko desperately tries to get up shouting "where are you, you COWARD! Gah... when I get my hands on you... ARGH!!"

Ail got close enough to blast some of the energy balls around him, absorbing Yumeko's energy as the orange energy balls impacted her, exploding on contact. Ail wounds vanish as the energy balls continue to explode on Yumeko's back, up until the very last one explodes. Yumeko was trembling on the ground, trying to get up, but she could barely keep her eyes open. Ail kicks her side, turning her around so she faces him. She was barely breathing, her face burnt and cut, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

"Go ahead..." she narrowly opens her eyes and weakly says "kill... kill me already."

Ail kneels beside her and grabs one of her daggers. The sounds of impalement echoes all around, accompanied by strong gusts of wind that carry the horrible sound straight to Pandemonium, right back to Shinki.

Late noon in Gensokyo.

Before landing, Marisa looks back to the Bamboo forest and says "ah, it seems things have settled down over there, ze. Oh well."

Yuki just smiles as she stares at Marisa. They both land next to a large white house. Marisa covers her mouth as she chuckles and says "she's gonna get the surprise of her LIFE."

Yuki scratches the side of her head, wondering what was Marisa talking about, but just shrugs and follows Marisa to the door. She knocks loud and shouts "Oy~! We came to play, daze!"

From inside an annoyed girl's voice says "What do you want, Marisa. I'm busy!"

Marisa shouts back "just come out already! There's someone you just HAVE to meet, zei~!"

The girl from inside opens the door while saying "look, if this is another one of your games I'm gonna..."

As soon as she opened the door, she looks at the two girls and gets a shock. She points at both and says "err... did you duplicate yourself?"

"Alice!?" asks Yuki, sounding very surprised.

Alice looks at her and says "well of course I'm Alice! For a double, you're not very smart, are you?"

Marisa chuckles and says "that's not a double. Don't you recognize her?"

Alice looks steadily at Yuki, then all of a sudden she shrieks, her hair standing on ends, then she rushes back to the door and slams it hard behind her. Marisa start to laugh hard, while Yuki says

"Alice! It's me. It's Yuki! Don't you remember me!?"

From inside Alice shouts "this is a dream, JUST A DREAM! You are not real!"

Marisa was now laughing to the point of tears and rolling on the ground, holding her sides.

Yuki sounding a bit disappointed says "aww come on. It's really me. I came from Makai through some sort of weird portal."

Alice shouts "I'm not listening. This is all a lie!"

Once Marisa calms down, she grabs Yuki by her shoulder and points back with her thumb saying "come on, I know another way inside."

and both Marisa and Yuki enter through a window and look at Alice, who was barring the door with her body, looking out the window and shaking in her boots.

Yuki looks at her with wonder, then says "wow, Alice, you sure have grown, huh?"

Alice jumps in place, twitching as she turns her now blue face toward Yuki, then she starts to tremble more violently while Marisa giggles and says

"hah hah, just stop that and serve us some tea or something, will ya?"

Flying above in the dark night skies of Makai is Ail, carrying a semi-conscious Yumeko on his back and talking to her non-stop on the way.

"...and honestly, I could have had my way with you just now, but why didn't I? Oh, that's right! I'm NOT a pervert! I'm not perfect, but I'm not a 'depraved monster' as you so kindly called me either. That really hurt, you know?"

Yumeko twitches a bit and moans then Ail says "about what happened between me and Shinki. It's hard to explain. I wasn't 'forcing my way' on her. We just panicked and just held on to each other. Nothing else. This is hard to explain, but while we were being surrounded by our energies like that, our minds sort of... drifted away. We saw that Yuki had landed in Gensokyo, and that she's with Marisa and Alice. Hey, that reminds me; what's with lady Shinki and Alice? When she saw her, she started to call out to her, asking if she was doing ok amongst other things. Sort of like a mother."

Yumeko lifts her index finger and lets it drop, softly tapping on Ail's shoulder, then he says

"right... sorry, forgot you're barely conscious back there. You know, you're lucky I was able to summon my 'Energy that Soothes' again, or you might REALLY be in trouble. Oh look... we're here."

Ail lands softly right in front of the gates of Pandemonium where Shinki was waiting for them. Wrapping Yumeko's arm around his neck, Ail helps her to walk to the gates. Shinki gasps when she gets a good look at both of them. Their clothes torn, bloodstains all over them, cut marks, open wounds. Ail's left eye had a small cut that started bleeding just as he was flying, and Yumeko had a gash on her arm that not even Ail's healing spell could close.

"It's alright" said Ail as he looked at Shinki's worried expression. "I was able to heal the more lethal wounds."

Just then, Luize and Mai come from inside and gently take Yumeko from Ail. He stood just outside the gates and looked on, then Shinki turns around and asks "aren't you coming?"

Ail shakes his head then Shinki says "but I already explained everything. Are you sure about this?"

Luize and Mai stop and listen to the conversation, but they wouldn't turn around. Shinki tried to insist, but Ail wouldn't even smile as he said in a very serious tone

"a 'pervert' like me should stay away, don't you think?"

Shinki gets closer to him saying "don't say foolish things like that. Come on, it's alright, really!"

Ail just looks at Shinki and wouldn't say a word. He turns around and just before he leaves Shinki tells him

"then please, after you calm down, remember that you are welcome here."

Ail turns his head and forces a half smile, then gestures a farewell with his hand and says

"please take good care of Maribel while I'm gone"

then flies away toward the lake. Shinki nods as he leaves, then sighs and slowly turns around then heads back inside.

The large doors close behind her as she said "alright, let's take care of Yumeko. First let's get her to her room and bandage those wounds properly."

Luize and Mai let out some tears, which Shinki notice, getting in front of them and smiling.

"It's ok. I'm sure he'll forgive you after he calms down a bit. Let's just give him some time."

Luize and Mai smile and continue to carry Yumeko to her room alongside their lady Shinki. Yumeko was trying to smile as well, but wasn't able to show her mistress, making her drop a blood-stained tear to the crystal floor.

Night time. Sakuya and Yukari pop out from inside one of her gaps into a large dark grassy field. Sakuya looks around and from a distance she notices many lights, some moving in pairs, other lighting steadily inside and outside tall buildings made of stone and glass. She sees a large monstrous metallic worm running through a stone path, making a loud squeaking sound as it stopped, and many humans getting on and off the creature. After a while of looking around, Sakuya shakes her head and realizes she was looking at a train.

"W-what is this? Yukari, why did you bring me here? Oh, this will inconvenience my lady!"

Yukari shushes her and with purpose in her voice she says "I need your help. We need to find Kyo and bring him back to Gensokyo with us."

Sakuya looks at Yukari quite surprised and asks "Kyo!? What for? Yukari, are you planing something again?"

Yukari covers her mouth with her fan and says "fu fu fu, not necessarily. We need him to go look for Ail, and since you'll be part of the search party, you are the perfect candidate to help me find him."

Sakuya looks around nervously so Yukari grabs her shoulders and says "don't worry. I won't leave you here, I promise. We'll have to split up, though."

Sakuya nods and just before Yukari leaves she asks "where can I find you?"

Yukari looks at Sakuya casually and says "don't worry. I'll find YOU" then gets inside one of her gaps, disappearing in a second.

Sakuya looks around and notices a dimly lit building in the distance. At first she though nothing of it, but something told her to head that way, and so she does.

After arriving at the building, she jumps the fence with ease and heads inside, however she quickly realizes the group of 7 thugs headed her way. They quickly surround her, laughing and cackling.

"Hey beautiful, are you lost?" said one of the thugs.

"We can show you the way back, but, uh... it's gonna cost you."

Sakuya wouldn't even glare at them and just stood quietly.

"What is it beautiful? Cat got your tongue?"

One of the bigger looking thugs gets close to her and places his hand on her shoulder saying "don't worry baby, we'll make sure you have a really good-- urk!"

Sakuya has elbowed his stomach, then grabbed his hand and sent him flying straight to a wall, making a large opening into the building. The other thugs get surprised, but quickly they growl while the leader says

"you just made the worse mistake of your life, sweetheart. You're gonna have to pay now."

The remaining 6 thugs launch at her with chains, knifes and bats with nails on them. Sakuya flips, kicks, punches, shoots knives, kicks again, then just stands right where she was. The thugs float in mid-air for a second, then suddenly they all fall down, bruised, cut and with knives stabbed on various parts of their bodies. Sakuya continues to walk into the building and casually says

"thanks, but I'm in a hurry now." and enters the building.

Inside the building she saw many rusted machines, old boxes and broken wooden platforms. Everything was very quiet. Sakuya just stands for a minute, just looking around, then she flies up to one of the higher platforms to get a better look, but before reaching, she hears a very familiar voice shouting

"HAAA~~! Time to end this!"

She gets on to the platform and looks down, spotting Kyo, wearing his traditional clothes, only the button shirt had strange palm designs on it and his muscle shirt was black. He was fighting with another man in a white suit in hand-to-hand combat. The man looked tired, barely able to defend himself from kyo, then he punches the man so hard, he sends him flying straight at a pile of boxes, knocking him out in the process. Sakuya smirks and was about to head down when suddenly she uses one of her knives to block an unfriendly short sword from another woman.

Kyo immediately looks up and shouts "Luna, what's going on!?"

Just like that, right in front of him lands Sakuya holding on to her knife in her right hand and her Luna Dial on her left hand, and just then, Luna lands next to Sakuya, swinging one of her short swords at her.

Sakuya gets a better look at her opponent. She was a silver haired woman with red highlights on her hair, tied up in a ponytail by a small green ribbon and had two black thin pins on each side of her head. On her right cheek she has a birth-mark of a small star. She was wearing a simple dark-blue dress and white pants underneath, a brown belt that held two sheathes for her short swords. She was also wearing a black glove on her left hand, and a white one on her right hand, and was wearing simple brown slip-on shoes.

She glares at Sakuya with her silver eyes, and Sakuya immediately notice her intent to kill. Sakuya and Luna fight for their lives, both matching each other in strength and agility. Sakuya was about to use her Luna Dial, but Kyo gets in the way of the two shouting

"stop this right now! Both of you!"

Luna almost hits Kyo with her blade, but he turns around in a split second, grabs the blade and sends her flying back.

Kyo passes his hand through his spiky black hair and says "you still can't beat me, sweetheart!"

Sakuya looks on in shock as Kyo goes to the girl and helps her up.

In a dark tone she says "hmph! You just caught me off-guard."

Kyo turns to Sakuya saying "miss Sakuya, what are you doing here?"

Sakuya keeps glaring at Luna and after a little while, as she puts away her knife and watch she says

"Kyo... I came here looking for you. We need your help back at Gensokyo."

Kyo looks at her suspiciously at first then asks "what happened with Ail?"

Sakuya casually says "we need to go get him and another from a place called Makai, and Yukari believes we need your help."

Sakuya kept glaring at Luna, who kept glaring back.

Kyo sighs and says "forgive me. Sakuya, this is Luna Rivers, my-"

Luna narrows her eyes and glares at Kyo, who sweats and turns pale and says "my very special friend."

Sakuya narrows her eyes and says "miss Luna, a pleasure, I'm sure"

and Luna says "the pleasure is all mine, miss Sakuya."

Kyo scratches his head and says "err... look, before we leave I want to go get some things back home and tell my folks I'll be gone. I don't want things to happen like last time."

Kyo grabs the unconscious well dressed man by his neck and says "but first I have to turn this guy in. Luna, why don't you go ahead with Sakuya and get some things ready. I'll be there shortly."

Luna quietly nods with a suspicious look on her face. Kyo thinks for a minute, but then suddenly runs outside, carrying the man and heading to a police station.

Luna signals Sakuya to follow, then both women start running to Kyo's house.

As they ran Luna says "so, Sakuya. You still serve that vampire?"

Sakuya does not answer, nor does she look at Luna, making her grin then continues

"I see. It's funny, but I never though I'd have the chance to see you again. Don't worry, I won't try anything... yet. For now, we help that Ail fellow, then you and I can get down to business afterward."

Sakuya grins and says "this won't be like before..., Katalina."

Luna stops and grabs Sakuya by her shirt and says "don't you DARE call me by that name again!"

Sakuya smiles then says "my mistake... miss Rivers."

Luna lets Sakuya go then they start walking toward some apartment buildings.

Kyo had just collected the bounty on the man and was headed to his apartment. At the same time, at Makai, Ail was standing next to Sara, apparently ready to battle her as well, and at the Hakurei Shrine, Yorihime lies on her back, thinking about Eirin, and the moon, while Reimu uses her gohei to beat on Mima, Tenshi and Suika, forcing them to clean up her shrine of all the empty bottles of sake. At the mountains behind the shrine, Nitori and Renko had fallen asleep next to the still unfinished power amplifying machine, and at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia eagerly awaits the return of her maid, standing on the second floor balcony thinking

"this is not like her. Maybe something happened."

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, and Luna (Katalina) were created by Willie G.R.

JUL 30 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	6. Chapter 5

At Makai, Ail had a life or death match against Yumeko and won, but of course, he didn't kill her, however he was still so mad about the others calling him a pervert, he preferred to go and sleep elsewhere, instead of going back inside the palace. Yukari had taken Sakuya to the outside world to help her look for Kyo, and found him quite quickly, however she also met Luna, a companion of Kyo's apparently, who also seems to know Sakuya quite well. At Gensokyo, Yorihime was having an unpleasant time ever since meeting with Eirin, Kaguya and Reisen; Reimu is having cleaning issues thanks to an unwelcome celestial, causing havoc all around the shrine, and Nitori and Renko were building the power amplifying machine, however nobody else seemed to care, leaving them alone on the job.

Morning in Gensokyo. Sanae wakes up early along with Suwako.

"Morning, Sanae. Wait, isn't it a bit early for you to be waking up?"

Sanae replies "good morning, lady Suwako. Oh, don't mind me, I just have some things to do today."

Suwako stares at Sanae, following her with her eyes, then she worriedly asks "are you sure everything is ok? You look a little pale."

Sanae smiles as she picks the broom and heads outside, immediately starting to sweep the floor. Suwako continues to look at her with worry, but then Sanae turns around with a most angelic smile and says

"I'm fine, really. Oh, I'll be making breakfast soon. Do you want anything in particular?"

Suwako smiles back looking like a content child and says "whatever you make is just fine with me"

and just watches Sanae with a smile on her face. At the scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia walks into Patchouli's library.

"Patchy~!? Are you there?" calls Remilia, receiving an immediate reply a bit farther ahead from where she was.

"My lady? What's the matter?"

Remilia walks farther in and finds Patchouli leaning over a small pile of books, just rummaging around them. She gets closer and asks "Patchy, has Sakuya returned yet?"

Patchouli stands up straight and says "sorry my lady, there has been no word from her."

Remilia bites her index finger nail and says "Uuu~ I'm starting to get worried. It's not like her to leave for so long without notice."

Patchouli looks at Remilia through the corner of her purple eyes and says "Don't worry, Remi. I'm sure she's fine. Reimu probably tangled her in some incident or something."

Remilia looks back at Patchouli and says "you're probably right. I'll be heading to the shrine then."

Patchouli bows and says "then have a safe trip, my lady."

In the outside world, Luna, Kyo and Sakuya are walking from Kyo's apartment to the park where Kyo and Ail first entered Gensokyo from.

"All these preparations just for a visit to Gensokyo?" asks Sakuya.

While carrying three large traveling cases, Kyo absent-minded says "notified the folks, returned the keys, emptied the apartment, got clothes, shoes..."

Sakuya sighs, Luna simply keeps herself quiet, walking by Kyo's right, as if trying to stay away from Sakuya.

"This little side-trip must be an inconvenience to my lady. Yukari promised she'd find me, but I don't see her anywhere."

Kyo then snaps back to reality and says "ah, that's right. She told me to go to the park where we went into Gensokyo the first time. She'd be waiting for us there."

Sakuya widens her eyes, grabs Kyo by his shirt and asks "when did you see her!?"

Kyo manages to hold on the the cases and replies "calm down. She came to me last night and told me what was going on with more detail, and I asked her to give me some time to get ready."

Sakuya looks back at Kyo quite angrily asking "why so many preparations? You'll only be in there for a few days, then come back out after we've rescued Ail and Maribel."

She lets go of Kyo as soon as she notices Luna glaring at her, then Kyo says

"last time it took almost 10 months before I could return. Had to wear the same clothes almost every day, I'm not risking it this time. And this time, my folks know where I am as well, so they won't worry."

They continue walking after Kyo explains, then Sakuya says "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap like that, but I've been away from the mansion for too long. The mistress is gonna be angry at me."

Luna looks at Kyo as he says "then instead of just walking, why don't we run!?"

and so they started running to the park, finding Yukari sitting on a bench, smiling at them and opening a gap directly to the Hakurei shrine saying

"sorry to have kept you waiting, miss Sakuya. Your mistress eagerly awaits your return in the shrine, and mister Kyo, miss Luna, welcome to Gensokyo."

A little earlier at the Hakurei Shrine, Remilia arrives wearing a white dress and hat, instead of her usual light-red colored ones and carrying a pink parasol.

"Reimu~! Reimu, where are you!?"

Looking a bit sleepy, Reimu comes out of the shrine with a broom at hand and saying "so noisy this early! What is it!?"

Remilia backs away a little and asks "Reimu, where's Sakuya? She came here last night to join your search team, right?"

Reimu looks at Remilia almost uninterested and says "yeah, so?"

Remilia gets a little closer and says "well where is she? She hasn't come back home. What did you do to her!?"

Reimu ponders for a bit then smiles and casually says "ah, that's right. Yukari took her."

Remilia looks at Reimu a bit shocked and shouts "and you just LET her take my Sakuya like that!? You gotta help me find her. What if that gap hag did something to Sakuya!?"

Reimu completely ignores Remilia and starts sweeping leaves near the shrine's gate. Remilia opens her mouth in shock and quietly says "she doesn't even care!"

and then walks toward her, but notices a shadow going straight at Reimu. It was Sanae, who immediately swishes her gohei, generating strong winds that blow all the leaves away to the back of the shrine, and of course, blows Reimu back, however she flips in mid air and lands perfectly, pulling out some charms and her own gohei then shouts

"what's the big idea!? Are you looking for a fight!?"

Remilia continues to look at the scene and thinks "and she reacts just like that!?"

Sanae lands gently in front of Reimu and helps her up saying "you haven't told me how are the preparations to infiltrating proceeding. I want to know what's going on!"

Reimu gets up and looks at Remilia and then Sanae saying "such a pain. If I knew this morning was going to be this loud, I'd have stayed in bed."

"REIMU!!!" shout Sanae and Remilia at the same time.

Reimu backs away and says "Remilia, Sakuya is probably fine! Yukari may be a loon, but she wouldn't cause harm to others for no reason. Just give it some time and Sakuya will be back to the mansion. Sanae, just relax already. Ail and Maribel are quite alright, I'm sure. He is much more dependable and able to take care of himself and Maribel than you give him credit for."

Sanae shakes her head and shouts "that's NOT the point! I know he can take care of himself and Maribel as well, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to sit around and do nothing, just waiting for them to come home! I want to HELP THEM!"

Just then, Nitori and Renko both come to the front of the shrine. Both were looking mighty angry at Reimu. Nitori gets really close and says

"Reimu, I need more help! The machine is going to take TOO long to build by just me and Renko!"

then Renko adds "it would be nice to have some extra hands and hurry tings up! I'm sure Mary is quite anxious to come back home!"

At Pandemonium, Mai was rolling a string ball around, making Maribel chase is all around, making her twitch her cat ears, and blushing every time she did and saying "so damned cute!"

Reimu was slowly backing away to the donation box as Remilia, Sanae, Nitori and Renko kept getting closer at her, glaring at her. When she was cornered she shouts

"ARGH! FINE!"

"So you'll help me get my Sakuya back?"

says Remilia at the same time Nitori was saying

"so you'll help me with the machine?"

at the same time Renko says

"so you'll help get us get Mary back?"

All three girls look at each other in shock and start arguing about which case was more important. Reimu was about to escape to her left, but Sanae cut her off, smiles widely and says

"my, that donation box is as empty as it was before Ail came to Gensokyo, wouldn't you agree? A shame, really. To lose the only person that ever donated even a yen to your shrine."

Suddenly Reimu realized the donation box had been empty for three straight days already. The realization hit her hard as she remembers about how was it that Ail came by every morning to donate some money and pray. Sanae smiles as though she had just beat Reimu at some event.

Reimu shouts "what are you all DOING just standing there!? Come on, we HAVE to get those two out of there, NOW!"

Nitori and Renko look at her and smile saying "you mean it!?"

then Remilia angrily says "but what about SAKUYA~!!?"

Just then, Yukari's gap opens behind them and in come Yukari, Sakuya, Kyo and Luna. Remilia gasps and smiles like a child in a candy store and lunges at Sakuya yelling with excitement

"SAKUYA~~! You're ok!"

Remilia was about to start crying, and when Sakuya looks at her like that, she gets a nosebleed, hugs her mistress back and says

"well of course I'm ok. I would never inconvenience my lady like that."

then she pulls her mistress away and says "I apologize, however, for my sudden departure like that."

Remilia smiles and says "so what happened?"

Yukari then says "I asked her to help me find Kyo, so he could help get Ail and Maribel back."

Inside the shrine, Reimu, Yorihime, Sanae, Renko, Nitori, Sakuya and Remilia were sitting beside each other, forming an arch around Kyo and Luna. Immediately after the tea was served Kyo presents Luna.

"Luna, these are my friends I told you about a while ago. Reimu, Sanae, Sakuya, and Remilia. Err..."

Reimu smiles and says "that's right, you never had the chance to meet Nitori, our techno-kappa, Renko, one of the girls that pushed you in here last time, and friend of Maribel, and Yorihime, who came to visit from the moon."

Yorihime shouts "I was FORCED to come here!"

but Reimu waves her hand and smiles nervously saying "hey, hey! Calm down, heheh."

Kyo slightly bows his head, however Luna looked at them all as though she was looking at garbage. Kyo whispers at her

"come on, Luna. Just say hello at least..."

Luna raises her sight to Sakuya's and then looks around at the other girls and says a rough "hello."

Kyo sweats a little as the other girls look at her rather displeased. Kyo immediately changes the subject saying

"so what did Ail get himself into THIS time!?"

Reimu looks at him and says "he landed himself and Renko's friend, Maribel, into Makai, the land of demons. In fact, we're just getting ready to head to Nitori's machine and work on it. All this just to get them back as SOON as we can. We are THAT worried, aren't we?"

All but Yorihime stare daggers at Reimu who simply sighs and says

"well then, let's get your lazy butts back to work, come on!"

Sanae shouts "whatever... let's just get this thing ready and get Ail back!"

Reimu teasingly says "oh? Just Ail huh? What about Maribel"

Sanae stutters a bit saying "o-o-of course! Maribel too. Who do you think I am, you!?"

Reimu knocks Sanae on the head and smiles saying "now, don't go saying things like that. Now let's go!"

Sakuya and Remilia leave to the mansion, Yorihime goes to the hot springs, looking a bit depressed, and just before the others leave, Kyo asks Reimu

"hey, where's Mima and Suika? I was really hoping to see them again."

Reimu looks at Kyo and smiles saying "don't worry, they're probably just hanging around somewhere. Come on, I'll brief you on our plan along the way."

At the gate to the shrine, tied to a rope, hanging from the top of the gate were Mima, Suika and Tenshi, whom looked like she was enjoying herself saying

"wee~~! Let's swing a bit more, c'mon!"

Mima was shouting "Reimu, I'm sorry~! I won't let it happen again... just get me OUT of here *sob*."

Suika sighs and says "give it up. She won't let us go until she's completely satisfied. Besides, with that charm on the rope, it's as if we're not even here, remember?"

Mima sighs with a tear on her left eye. On the top of the rope was a blue charm that suddenly set itself on fire, then burned the rope down, making the three of them drop hard on the ground.

Back at Makai, Ail was dodging energy balls heading his way. Some were in arcs, others in straight lines, and sometimes it was a large barrage of small and medium energy balls.

"Sara, cut it OUT already!" shouted Ail.

Sara stops for a moment and says "not until you give up! I WON'T let you leave Maribel here!"

Ail's cloak was stained with blood all over, he still had all the cuts and bruises from his previous battle with Yumeko, but luckily the blood had dried up, sealing his wounds, even the one under his eye.

"I'm telling you, I'm not leaving her in here! I just need to try and open gaps, see if I can find the right one! that's all" shouts Ail.

Sara spins around, releasing countless energy balls of many size and shapes. Ail had a lot of trouble dodging them, but manages to do so.

"Even so, I'm NOT giving you the chance to leave her here. She's your friend! Even if she DID side with the others!"

She waves her arms in front of her chest releasing arcs of blue colored energy balls, then started moving around as she did. Ail dodges as best as he can then shouts back

"I told you, I'm not mad about that anymore!"

Sara stops for a moment and looks into Ail's eyes then says "I don't believe you. You still look quite mad to me."

Ail grabs hold of his hair with both hands and pulls hard grunting "because I've been dodging your damned energy balls since DUSK!"

Sara shoots another barrage and casually says "I'm not letting you!"

Ail dodges again as Sara says "why aren't you shooting back!? This is a battle. You had one with Yumeko, so you should know the rules of battle. Attack!"

Ail looks at Sara feeling annoyed, then prepares a concentrated focus blast, but just before releasing it, a laser beam hits him on the back, electrocuting him and sending him down hard. Luize flies just above and says

"to think he acted like such a gentleman, now he's attacking Sara."

She scratches the side of her head and says

"and here I though I had met the first good human in ages. What a pity."

Sara flies to Luize looking furious and shouts

"HEY! We were having a battle! How dare you interfere!? And he was just about to start attacking too."

Luize looks at Sara feeling a bit surprised and says "oh, so he wasn't attacking you at all?"

Sara lets her arms hang as she slumps and looks at Luize disappointed saying

"No! He was just dodging all this time. Great, and I had just gotten him to attack back. Thanks a lot Luize."

Luize watches as Sara slowly descends next to Ail, who was on the ground, his eyes were spinning and he kept moaning and mumbling incoherently. Luize just sighs and descends as well.

At Pandemonium, Mai had made Maribel crash against some ornaments and statues, breaking them in the process. Maribel would apologize and try to clean up, but Mai kept tossing the ball of yarn, making Maribel follow it instinctively all around.

"If I keep doing this, I'm going to nosebleed myself to death, but it's just so cute!"

thinks Mai, as she tosses the ball of yarn once more, making Maribel chase around it.

She kept saying "anya~, come back little ball" and chase after it, then saying "mew~... this is so much fun... why didn't I try doing this before?"

Shinki comes out of Yumeko's room and watches the event for some time, her cheeks turning pink at the sight, until Maribel, once more bumps into another statue, making it fall and break.

"Mai, you should stop that already and clean up."

said Shinki as she gets close to Mai, then whacks her on the head. Mai rubs her head and says

"oww! Can't Yumeko just restore them like she usually does?"

Shinki's eyes get watery and gazes blankly at the mess of broken figures, then she lightly pats Mai's shoulders. Mai gasps and covers her mouth as she says

"no! You don't mean...?"

Shinki lets her tears flow as she says "she should be fine, but she doesn't want to wake up. It's like, she wants to die."

Maribel suddenly gets up from the floor and drops the ball of yarn and says

"mister Ail is coming this way. He couldn't open the gap, but for some reason he's feeling better, and he can help miss Yumeko."

Shinki and Mai both stare at Maribel as she continues to speak.

"Don't worry about miss Yumeko. She says she'll wait to hear what he has to say. Oh, she also asks that lady Shinki forgives her."

Mai goes to Maribel and as though not believing what she just heard, she asks

"why are you saying all that? A-are yo making fun of us?"

Shinki waste no time and heads to Yumeko's room, and just then, along with Luize, Ail enters the palace and heads directly to Yumeko's room without turning his sight from the door, walking past Mai and Maribel. Luize smiles at them and winks saying

"he'll be done in a second, and then he wants to have a word with you two."

Mai and Maribel look at each other looking worried, then Luize adds "don't worry, it's not that bad"

then Maribel looks at Luize and twitches her ears, making Mai bleed through her nose again and earning a hug from Luize and Mai, who say at the same time

"that was just adorable!!!"

Back at Gensokyo at the mountains behind the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu explains to Kyo their plan to get Ail and Maribel back from Makai.

"...and so, once we finish this machine, Iku will power it up, Yukari will open the gate, we go in, get Ail and Maribel, then come back. Simple, right?" said Reimu with a smile as they all headed to Nitori's machine.

Kyo looks back at Reimu with disbelief and annoyance, but before he could ask, Luna asks instead, in a cold and angry tone of voice

"then why the hell did you bother US to come here in the first place!? You seem to have a good plan already. It's not like us being here will change ANYTHING at all!"

Kyo sighs and Reimu turns around to face Luna, making her stop in place. Reimu smiles that murderous smile only she can accomplish so perfectly and says

"hehehe~, I wasn't the one who went looking for you, miss."

Reimu turns to Kyo and says "but I'm sure at least you understand, when Yukari does things like this, there's always a reason behind it, right?"

Kyo nods and looks at Luna sternly and says

"yes, I know. So if we're here, there's a reason for it. So just calm down."

Luna grunts and crosses her arms, then turns her head away from Kyo. Reimu rushes to the front with Sanae, Renko and Nitori and says

"be careful with that one. There's something off about her."

The other girls nod and continue walking.

Back at the shrine, Mima was inspecting the luggage Kyo had brought. She opens one of the cases and immediately spots Luna's dark-green bikini.

"What the hell is this?" asks Mima, as she grabs the bikini top and inspects it thoroughly.

Suika grabs the bottom and says "I think this is some sort of outfit from the outside world... but why would she need to wear this. Looks as it only covers the more important parts."

Tenshi lets out half a smile saying "you two know nothing. THIS is a special suit made for combat!"

Suika looks at Tenshi with a childish face and says "really? But if it's for combat, how come it covers so little?"

Tenshi waves her finger and says

"tsk, tsk, tsk. Don't you see? With an outfit like that, Kyo's agility and movement increases, so nothing can even touch him, and it's great for long battles, since it reduces sweat to a minimum. It's genius!"

Mima imagines Kyo wearing the dark-green bikini and flexing his muscles while fighting heavy-armored villains, then flexing some more after he'd won. Mima's nose starts to bleed, her face gets all flushed, then she faints with her eyes wide open and mumbling

"what a hunk."

then Suika scratches her head for a moment with her eyes narrowly opened and says

"I think this is just underwear. Come on, let's see what ELSE is in here!"

At the Human Village, Marisa, Yuki and Alice enter Keine's school.

"Please excuse me children, it seems we have guests" says Keine with a smile as she heads to the school's waiting room.

"Look, I'm busy, what do you--?"

Keine stops in mid-sentence and looks at Yuki, then Marisa and then Alice, who was looking dreadfully strained. Keine backs away a little and says

"she spawned a clone!? Wait, you look much older. Is Marisa your younger sister or something?"

Marisa gets up and opens her mouth, but Yuki gets up after her, covers her mouth and smiles at Keine as she says

"why YES, I'm her older sister, come to visit from far away and see how's my little sister is behaving! Is she a good girl?"

Marisa struggles to break free form Yuki's grasp, but she's unable too. Alice turns around and covers her mouth, trying her best to contain her laughter. Keine looked very surprised and said

"my, I didn't know the Kirisames had another child before Marisa. Pleasure to meet you miss... err."

Yuki smiles and says "it's Yuki."

Keine bows her head and says "pleasure to meet you, Yuki Kirisame"

Yuki smiles again and says "please, call me Yuki. Now, has my little sis' been a good little girl?"

Keine looks at Yuki and smiles saying "sorry to say this, but Marisa has never been in one of my classes, you see."

Yuki pats Marisa on the forehead and says "why, Marisa I am SHOCKED! You told me in your letters you were such a good girl, and you respected your teacher above all."

Alice couldn't contain herself and let out a loud laugh that alerted Keine who says

"umm... Alice, what's so funny?"

Just then, Yuki lets go of Marisa, who immediately starts beating on Yuki with her broom and shouting

"how dare you! Keine, she's NOT my sister, she's Yuki from Makai!"

Keine raises her finger and points at Marisa and says "younger sisters should RESPECT their elder sisters. Now drop that broom and apologize!"

Marisa pats her chest with her left hand and says

"I don't HAVE an older sister, zei!"

Alice was laughing so hard, she got the attention of all the students inside the classroom. Yuki notices the crowd and shouts with a smile so wide, her lips almost reached her cheeks as she shouts

"hey kids, this witch here has MAGICAL CANDY~!!! Come and get some!"

The children inside start to riot and shout and yell and escape the classroom chasing after Marisa. She was able to get out of the school, but of course, the children went after her, taking her broom away long before she could fly away. Yuki ran along with them shouting

"quickly, she's getting away. Get the magic candy~!!!"

Alice was laughing so much, she didn't notice the enraged Keine right behind her. By the time she realized it, it was too late and she found herself tied up and facing a corner next to the chalk-board.

At the mountains behind the shrine, Nitori shrieks and panics when they arrived to the location of the machine and find there was no machine there. Nitori yells

"MY MACHINE~! Where is it!? Where IS IT!?"

Renko and Sanae panic as well and shout at the same time "WHAT!? It's GONE!?"

Reimu calmly looks on then Kyo crosses his arms and Luna, looking pissed off stands beside him.

Reimu says "hey, you three better calm down!"

Nitori rushes to Reimu about to cry and says

"but they stole my machine~! Miss Reimu, please get it back!"

Renko then shouts "but it's too BIG for someone to just take it like that!"

then Sanae adds "and who would go around stealing unfinished machines? There must be some sort of mistake, little one. Maybe it was somewhere else."

Nitori angrily rushes to Sanae and grabs her shirt and says

"don't question my genius! There are so many out there jealous of my talents. They probably stole it to claim THEY built it. *Sob* I should have put my name on it before!"

Reimu looks at the ground suspiciously, then looks around and calmly heads to Kyo and signals him to get closer. She whispers something to him, then he calmly walks to the left and stands next to a tree. A few feet away, on another tree were the three mischievous fairies, Luna Child, Sunny Milk and Star Sapphire. Sunny shushes the others and whispers

"hey, Luna! Don't stop using your powers. If they find us out now, we won't be able to freak out that kappa like we planed."

Luna looked at Sunny feeling offended and whispers "I'm doing MY part of the job. You better be doing yours right!"

Sunny places her hand on her chest, tucking her stomach and posing mightily and says

"I happen to do my job better than anyone else."

Star gasps and says "Sunny, she's getting to close. If she touches the machine, the prank is over. Do something!"

Sunny thinks hurriedly then snaps her fingers and exclaims "ah-ha~!".

Nitori was getting close to where her machine was and was about to start crying, when all of a sudden, a large green snake appears out of nowhere, startling Nitori, making her jump back and screaming.

"WAH!! A snake!? Sanae, did Kanako take my machine!?"

Sanae shakes her gohei at the snake to keep it back. She turns for a moment at Nitori and shouts

"why would lady Kanako want that!?"

Nitori gets face-to-face with Sanae and says

"because that old hag is JEALOUS of me, that's why!"

Sanae turns her attention to Nitori and shouts "HEY! Lady Kanako is a goddess, not a thief!"

Sanae and Nitori start a staring contest, sending sparks flying just with their eye contact. Reimu stomps on the ground and shouts

"SHUT IT!"

Both look at Reimu then point at each other, saying "but she started it!" at the same time.

Reimu places her index finger on her lips and again signals the girls to be quiet. She looks at Kyo and nods. Kyo punches the tree he was under, however nothing happened. Luna jumps on another tree, unsheathes one of her blades and cuts the branch, revealing the three mischievous fairies. As soon as the three fairies fell, Nitori's machine materializes out of thin air, and the snake vanishes from sight.

Luna was about to strike the fairies with her sword, but Kyo shouts "NO" and lunges to her, stopping Luna from killing the three fairies, who were so frightened they curled up into balls and were shaking with fear on the ground. Reimu holds her chest and sighs then says

"You three... you'll receive your punishment later. Right now we have very important things to do, so leave while you still can."

All three uncurl and look at Reimu, and without wasting a second, all three fly away as fast as they could. Reimu walks to Luna, who had just sheathed her sword and says to her

"Luna, we have rules here. We do not kill needlessly, you understand?"

Luna grunts and spits at Reimu's direction, missing Reimu, as expected. Kyo opens his eyes widely, nervously bows and says

"Reimu, I'm sorry. Please, let me talk to her!"

Reimu grits her teeth, but quickly calms down and says

"fine. Make sure to tell her the rules of this place" then turns around and heads to Nitori's machine.

Kyo was furious, however Luna looked as though she had been wrongly accused and was quite angry. Kyo points at her and says

"Luna, you have to calm down. This place isn't like the world outside. They won't send you to jail for a few months if you break the rules here. They will banish you from this place IF you are lucky!"

Luna scoffs and says "it's not MY fault this place is full of wimps and pansies."

Kyo grabs her by her shoulders and looks at her into her eyes saying

"listen, you agreed you'd come in with me when the time came. We are here, there are rules here, and I will ask you to follow them. Please don't make me have to take sides. Just listen to the rules and follow them as best you can. They're quite simple."

Luna tries to look away, but for some reason she could not keep her eyes away from Kyo for long. She grits her teeth and lightly growls and says

"fine... what are the rules!?"

Kyo smiles when he heard her say that, and somehow that made her smile as well, but as soon as she realized she was smiling as well, she turns her face away, blushing a bit and biting her bottom lip.

Reimu walks toward Nitori, who was hugging her machine, and Sanae, who was shouting "apologize to lady Kanako!"

She notices Renko was sitting on a tree stump away from the commotion, so she approaches her.

"Renko, is something wrong?"

Renko lifts her sight. She was holding back tears. Reimu sighs and says "let it out."

Renko asks "why don't you want to save them? Why is everyone against saving Mary, and that Ail too. Did they do something wrong?"

Reimu pats her shoulder and says

"I'm sorry. I know I haven't been too helpful with this, but you need to understand we all have confidence in our friends, and that's why, from my part, at least, it looks as if I don't care."

Renko gets a bit confused, but Reimu continues talking before Renko could say anything.

"You should have more confidence in them. I am very certain they are safe, not just because my intuition tells me so, but because I also have confidence that they can take good care of themselves. Don't you think your friend, whom you have known for so long, can take care of herself? Also, she is with Ail. I am sure that by now that dummy has befriended everyone in Makai, and in turn, I am sure Maribel has done so too."

Renko lowers her sight again, but Reimu follows her, crouching in front of her and asks "do you have confidence in your friend or not!?"

Very lightly, Renko says "yes..."

Reimu gets up and says "I couldn't hear you~!"

Renko gets up and shouts "YES! I have confidence in them! I'm just worried. What is wrong with that!?"

Sanae places her hand on her chest and thinks "confidence... Yes... I should have more confidence in him. So that's what Lady Suwako meant after all."

Reimu raises her voice and says "alright then, let's get started with this. Nitori, tell me what you need! Kyo, you and Luna go back to the shrine, get Suika to come here, and Mima too, if you see her. Sanae, you, Renko and me will help out Nitori as best as we can."

All but Luna salute Reimu and say "RIGHT!" then everyone mobilizes.

Back at Makai, in Yumeko's room at Pandemonium, Ail grabs Yumeko's limp and cold hand and looks at her face. She wasn't responding at all. Ail, in a stern voice shouts

"Yumeko! Wake up!"

Yumeko reacts, however it looked as though she was dieing. Ail, still sounding very stern says

"how could you LET yourself fall like this!? What, just because I beat you!? I am SO disappointed. OPEN YOUR EYES. LOOK AROUND YOU! Everyone is WORRIED ABOUT YOU!"

Shinki pushes Ail away and says "how can you be so rough on her like that!? She still recovering!"

Yumeko slightly opens her eyes and grabs Shinki's hand. Shinki gasps, but as soon as she realizes it was Yumeko, she kneels down and says

"Yumeko, my child, please you have to wake up now. Let me take care of you, like when you were little, remember? Please, don't leave me. Let me help you."

Yumeko reacts again and opens her eyes a little wider and asks "my lady... you... for...give me?"

Shinki rubs Yumeko's hand on her own face and says "there's nothing to forgive, my child!"

Yumeko cries and smiles then says "my... lady. You are m-most... kind." and then she collapses again.

Ail pats Shinki on the shoulder, and immediately Shinki nods and both Yumeko and Shinki begin to glow white. For a minute, they both shine, and it looked as though it wasn't going to stop, but the light slowly fades away after a while. Both Shinki and Yumeko were now smiling. Shinki places Yumeko's hand on her chest and gets up, heading toward the door, Ail following close behind. On the corridor were Luize, Mai and Maribel, all waiting to hear what happened.

Shinki smiles at them and says "she's going to be alright."

Ail adds "she'll need some rest, though. Now... Maribel... I need to speak with you, and you too, Mai, if you want to listen to me, that is."

Both Maribel and Mai nod and look at each other, looking a bit ashamed, Maribel lowering her ears as low as she could.

At the dinning table in the palace, all the girls quietly await for Ail to say whatever he has to say. Ail looks around and sees Mai's and Maribel's worried faces. He takes a deep breath and says

"Mai... Maribel. I must say, you really hurt me. You turned on me so quickly. Mai, I can understand, but you, Maribel?"

Maribel opens her mouth, ready to reply, but Ail raises his hand and says

"but I would also like to apologize as well. To you too, lady Shinki. I acted rash, caused a lot of harm as well, said some things I shouldn't have. In short, I want you to forgive me for the trouble I caused."

Luize adds "I already told you I forgive you ONLY if you forgive me for trying to eat y-- err... I mean... for calling you a pervert... heheheh"

Ail sweats and crosses his arms, waiting for Mai's and Maribel's answer.

Mai sighs and says "fine, if we're all forgiving each other, then I'm game too. I really am sorry, mister Ail, but you have to realize from my point of view-"

"...it looked like a direct attack, I know. I still don't understand how that even happened in the first place, but..."

Mai giggles and says "then I guess it's alright then."

Ail realizes Maribel is looking at him, holding her hands together as though she was praying, and looking directly at him, almost about to cry.

Ail looks away and says "it's alright Maribel, I forgive you."

Maribel jumps over the table and lands right on top of Ail, knocking him and his chair down to the ground and rubs her cheek on his and crying

"waaah~!!! I'm so sorry mister Ail, I'll never doubt you like that again~!"

Ail gets nervous and stutters a bit, but then he realizes nobody is looking at them awkwardly so he calms down, pats Maribel on the head and gently says

"it's ok, it's ok... calm down."

Shinki smiles and says "well mister Ail, it's been a long one, hasn't it?"

Ail is finally able to get up with Maribel still crying on his shoulder and nods at Shinki saying

"yeah... I could really use some rest."

and then he smiles, causing Shinki, Mai and Luize to smile as well.

Noon at the human village. Inside Keine's school, Alice, Marisa and Yuki had been tied up and placed on three different corners. Marisa's hat was in tatters along with most of her clothes thanks to the rampaging children looking for the candy she didn't have, and Yuki was full of bruises and bumps from Marisa's broom.

"Honestly! you three gave me so much trouble!" said Keine, staring angrily at the three cornered girls.

"So you say Yuki is from Makai and Ail and Maribel are just fine, right?"

All three answer "yes" at the same time, but Keine shouts as loud as she could "QUIET!!! This is time-out, so NO TALKING!"

All three sigh at the same time then Keine says "we better tell this to Reimu and the others. They'll be so happy to hear the news. Oh, and don't worry miss Yuki, once we open the gate, you can come along and go back home."

When Keine looks at Yuki, she was quietly sobbing in the corner. Keine gets close to her and pats her on the shoulder, but it was like Yuki was in some other place. She kept sobbing and saying

"Yumeko, don't go..."

Keine sighs and says "fine, you can get up now."

She unties the three girls, however Yuki kept sobbing and now crying on the corner and repeating Yumeko's name. She slowly gets up and turns around. Her eyes were red and puffy, and full of tears. She smiles at them and says

"miss Keine, you remind me so much of Yumeko."

and then she starts laughing as she wipes her tears saying "it's gonna be alright after all."

Alice looks at Keine quite confused, then Keine looks back looking equally confused. Marisa, however, was grumbling to herself, looking at her hat and heading outside the school with an angry expression on her face.

Kyo and Luna arrive at the shrine at noon and find all their suit cases open.

"A burglar?" asks Kyo,

but Luna, who looked very angry, pokes Kyo's arm and points at Mima, Suika and Tenshi, who were screaming every time they pushed the pump on Kyo's deodorant spray. Luna looks around and notices her things lying around and in a very dangerous tone asks

"who... was playing... with my bikini!!?"

The atmosphere around her turns heavy and dark and before Kyo could assist in any way, Luna was violently swinging her swords at the three girls, chasing them outside the shrine, and all around the lake at the back.

Kyo pats his head and sounding exhausted he says to himself "oy~, this one's gonna go on for long."

Just then, Yorihime comes form the spring. Her hands were wrinkled and she looked as though she had just woken up. She looks at the mess of clothes and items scattered all around and says

"I'm not cleaning this."

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo and Luna (Katalina) were created by Willie G.R.

AUG 4 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	7. Chapter 6

Kyo and his new friend, Luna, arrive at Gensokyo and are informed about the plan to get Ail and Maribel back from Makai, as well as Sanae, Renko, and Nitori convincing Reimu to join in their efforts to finish the power amplifying machine. Luna acts very rough and cold toward everyone but Kyo, and looks down on all the girls, creating tension between all that are around her.

At Makai, having convinced Yumeko to allow Shinki to heal her, apologizing for his behavior, and of course, forgiving the girls for calling him a pervert, Ail finally comes to his senses and is able to rest, safe inside Pandemonium.

Marisa, Yuki, and Alice were held hostage inside Keine's school after making all of the students run away from class, but were soon released after Yuki started behaving strangely.

It's was late noon and Luna is chasing a celestial, an evil spirit and an oni all around the lake behind the Hakurei Shrine for messing with her luggage.

-

At the Forest of Magic, at Ail's house, Rinnosuke looks around outside and calls for Ail.

"Hey~! Are you there? Ail!"

Rinnosuke keeps quiet for a moment, awaiting a reply, but received none.

He gets closer to the door as he thinks "it's been quite a while since he's come by. I wonder if he's even alive in there?"

He hears some rustling inside the house, and as he gets closer, he notices the door was slightly open. He cautiously enters speaking loudly

"hey, Ail, are you in there!? The door was open so I hope you don't mind that I let myself..."

Another loud rustling coming from one of the rooms startles Rinnosuke. He quietly walks toward the room and slowly opens the door. He sees nothing but an empty bed, next to some open drawers and 6 blue ice wings.

He opens his eyes wide and says "wait a minute! Cirno, is that you?"

From the other side of the bed, Cirno, the ice fairy, pops her head, looking around, not noticing Rinnosuke at the door.

He gets closer and says "Cirno... over here!"

Cirno jumps in place, panic filling her face, and shoots an icicle straight at Rinnosuke, who dodges just in time.

"That was close, little fairy! What are you doing in Ail's house?!"

Cirno jumps on Ail's bed after calming down and says "he's not visiting, so eye came to visit instead, but I don't see him."

Rinnosuke arranges his glasses and looks straight into the ice fairy's eyes and says

"You mean Ail? I see. I came to visit him too. It's been a couple of days since he visited my shop. Seems he's not here, though."

Cirno shakes her head and says "eye searched everywhere, but all I could find was this."

She pulls out a spell card from one of the open drawers next to Ail's bed and shows it to Rinnosuke. He gets closer and grabs the spell card, inspecting it thoroughly.

As he inspects it Cirno says "it must be a bad card because eye am a genius, but even I could not use it!"

Rinnosuke gasps and opens his eyes wide then asks "Cirno? Where did you find this?"

Cirno looks a bit puzzled at Rinnosuke, then points at the open drawers.

Rinnosuke places the card inside his brown bag and says "it's getting late. Tomorrow you and I are visiting the shrine in the morning. Reimu must know about this."

Cirno continues to look at Rinnosuke puzzled, but she lightly nods and follows him outside.

-

Early morning at Makai. Ail wakes up and quietly gets out of his room, his clothes still stained with blood, his sky-blue cloak in tatters and blood-stained as well. He couldn't fully open his left eye because it had swollen a bit, the wound opening again, trickling some blood from time to time. He sneaks outside of Pandemonium and flies toward the lake.

Although there was no sun, the light of day was shining brightly now. Ail had gotten inside the lake and was just floating in his underwear. He had hung his clothes out to dry, and was able to remove most of the blood stains off from them. His cloak, however, had a large blood stain on the back that refused to clean off, so Ail gave up on it.

He floated on the water, facing the sky, admiring some clouds as they passed by, when suddenly, Ail's face turns serious and begins to swim to shore.

"How long have you been watching me?" asks Ail as he gets closer to the shore.

From behind a tree Yumeko laughs and says "since you gave up on that large stain on that cloak of yours. I could clean that off for you if you ask nicely enough."

Ail lets out a half smile saying "heh, I would be honored if you did me this favor... So how are you feeling?"

Still behind the tree, Yumeko crosses her arms and while smiling and facing the ground with her eyes close, replies "hmm, I feel better than ever, thanks for asking. What about that eye of yours?"

Ail continues to smile for a moment then says "don't tell the others about that. The last thing I want now is for them to worry."

Yumeko hums and says "fine. Lady Shinki already knows, though. Fine, I'll let her know you want it kept a secret. I'll be taking this cloak now, so-"

She heard Ail getting out of the water and blushes while quickly saying "h-hey! Don't get out of the water so suddenly!"

Ail chuckles and says "don't worry, I got my pants on already."

Yumeko is relieved and gets out of hiding. She saw Ail put on this cut and tattered shirt on and frowns. She grabs his cloak and says "I could fix that for you..."

Ail looks casually at her while saying "are you ok?"

She doesn't respond. Ail gets closer to her and pats her shoulder and says "what happened, happened, and was meant to be. Now it's time to leave that in the past, alright?"

As if a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders, Yumeko feels great relief. Her Master and the outsider had forgiven her just like that. She looks back at Ail, who frowns as he bows and says

"if anything, I want to apologize for... well... almost killing you."

When he stands straight again, he continued looking at the ground, but Yumeko just smiles and says "all is forgiven."

Ail looks at her, then smiles.

Suddenly Yumeko realizes something and asks "hey, that lake is very dangerous. How come you're still in one piece?"

Ail gasps and says "ah, thanks for reminding me."

He waves his hand in the direction of the lake and suddenly, many carnivore fish, some as big as houses, swim back to where Ail was. Yumeko looks at Ail a little surprised, but just shrugs and walks back to the palace.

-

Morning in Gensokyo, at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu wakes up with Mima who was sleeping next to her. She remembers how hard it was to convince Luna to stop trying to kill her and her other two friends, after they rummaged all over her belongings. Reimu gets up and readies herself for the day ahead. Kyo and Luna were sleeping next to each other, right next to the small table in the main room of the shrine, so Reimu quietly prepares some tea and some breakfast, then heads to the shrine's porch to eat.

Just as soon as she finished drinking the last bit of tea, Rinnosuke and Cirno arrive at the shrine. Rinnosuke had a worried expression on his face, while Cirno just looked around curiously, then rushes directly toward the donation box she always seems so curious about and stares inside of it.

"Morning, Rinnosuke. What brings you here so early in the morning, and with the ice fairy, no less?" asked Reimu sounding casual.

He walks to her and quickly hands her the spell card Cirno had found in Ail's house. "What's this? Rinnosuke, you finally have your own spell card!?"

He glares at her and says "take a good look, Reimu."

Just then, Cirno comes and stands next to Rinnosuke and proudly says "Eye found it. Inside Ail's house!"

Reimu inspects the spell card for a moment and reads the name in a whisper "Light Sign, Within the Jewel's Core?"

Reimu's eyes fill with fear, her face turning pale, her hands begin to shake. She turns to Cirno and asks "inside Ail's house?"

Cirno looks back at Reimu's face and wonders what was going on. Why was she so scared of that spell card? She nods and asks "why are you so scared?"

Before Reimu could answer, Rinnosuke says "this little one tried to use it, but as luck would have it, it didn't work."

Still trembling and filled with so much fear, she could barely feel herself moving her limbs, she grabs Cirno by her arms and grips her tight, furiously saying "don't you EVER try using this again, do you hear me, you idiot!!?"

Cirno's eyes fill with tears and tries to force herself free, getting angry and shouting "I'm NOT an idiot! I'm a genius! I can read! That makes me really smart! *grunt* LET ME GO! I'll make you pay for this!"

Reimu releases Cirno, but Rinnosuke grabs the little ice fairy before she launched herself at Reimu. He then says "so I take it you know what that spell does, right?"

Reimu nods and tires to break it, which makes Cirno even madder, screaming "WHAT ARE YOU DOING! That's not yours, you mean maiden!"

"Shut it!" shouts Reimu back at Cirno, but the spell card repairs itself before she could say anything else.

Rinnosuke stares at Reimu and says "I already tried destroying it, I'm afraid."

Reimu growls softly as she continues to stare at the card. The others inside the shrine start waking up, immediately heading outside and see what the commotion just now was.

-

Yuki, Marisa, Alice and Keine were having breakfast at Keine's school. They had spent the night there since Marisa insisted they waited for her to return from her house before heading to Reimu's. When she came back, quite late at night, she was wearing a tan-colored apron with a large 'M' embroidered in it over her skirt.

While eating breakfast, Yuki teasingly asks "so, Marisa? Why the sudden outfit change?"

Marisa gets a bit annoyed, but forces a smile and says "so that people stop confusing me with you."

Yuki covers her mouth with her hand as she giggles and says "well I guess great minds think alike, isn't that right Alice?"

Alice starts to sweat and trembles a bit, but tires to cover it by calmly drinking her tea. Keine looks puzzled and wondered what were they talking about. Yuki gets up and was wearing over her black skirt a tan-colored apron with the letter 'Y' embroidered to it, then she pulls out her hat and had changed the white bow to pink.

Marisa furiously gets up and shouts "what the HECK!? ALICE, did you--?"

Yuki grins mischievously and says "I asked Alice last night to make this for me. It was a little annoying having people calling me your clone, so I thought this might help. Never would I guess you were thinking the same thing. I guess it's can't be helped."

Yuki sits back down, wrapping her left arm around Marisa's neck, and her right arm around Alice's, then pulls them together saying "We're sisters, even if don't really share blood, hahahaha~!"

Alice angrily asks "wait, why me too?"

Yuki replies "that's why I changed the bow in my hat, silly!"

Alice and Marisa both looked miserable as Yuki tightly hugged them with a smile on her face. Keine quietly smiles and thinks "these girls are worse than the children... but I wonder."

She imagines a child version of Marisa and Alice, quietly sitting on the desks, listening to her classes, then Yuki arrives shouting "HEY~ kids! Big sister Yuki is here!"

Both Alice and Marisa get up from their desks, excitedly shouting as they ran toward Yuki "onee-chan~!"

Yuki kneels down and pats them both on the back of their heads and asks "and did you learn a lot today, little sis?"

Alice nods and Marisa says "oh yes. Miss Keine is the BEST teacher ever!"

Keine was now blushing and smiling at the breakfast table. The three girls look at her, wondering what was going on. Suddenly Keine says "you two, Alice, Marisa. Call Yuki 'onee-chan'!"

Alice crosses her arms and angrily says "no way! What's WITH you all of a sudden!?"

Marisa bangs on the table and shouts "like HELL I would, ze!"

Keine's face turns from contently blushing, to dagger-staring dangerous. Marisa and Alice get shocked, tremble a bit, and look at Yuki, calling her "onee-chan!" Keine smiles again and giggles, then Yuki just stares at her with a blank smile.

Both Alice and Marisa think "what just happen here?"

-

At the underground, in the Palace of the Earth Spirits, a familiar black and red cat walks all around the palace. She climbs by windows and stares outside for a while, then comes back down, paces around, and returns once more to the windows and just stares outside. This has been going on for two days, so Satori decided to talk to her pet. Quietly sitting by the window, swaying her two tails and staring outside, the little kitty, Orin, takes a deep breath and exhales. Without realizing it, Satori was behind her.

She was just staring at her pet, looking as casual as ever, then suddenly asks "sitting by the windows again?"

Orin jumps so high, she bangs her head on the window's frame, then falls down, spilling some blood on the ground.

Satori panics "Orin, Orin! I'm sorry. Wake up already!"

Now in human form, Orin sits with her back against the wall, looking as if she was ready to start crying. Satori was sitting next to her and says "I know he hasn't come by to play with you for some time, but getting depressed over it is not healthy."

With glassy eyes, Orin looks down and says "but bro always comes by and plays with me, even if it's just to say hello."

She pick up her legs and hugs her knees, starting to sob and thinking "he hates me!"

Satori calmly replies "he's not that type of person. I don't think he hates you at all."

Orin looked at her master, her cheeks full of tears now. Satori looks back and says "yes, I know. He might have been a little angry after you all forced him to cause that incident, but I doubt he hates you, or anyone of us."

Orin's tears stop after her master says these words, then asks "but then, why else would he stop visiting?"

Satori thinks for a moment, then says "tell you what. Later, let's go topside and visit that maiden. Maybe she knows what's going on."

Orin perks up and smiles, then hugs her master tightly repeating "thank you, thank you~!"

Satori blushes a bit, pulls half a smile from her casual face and hugs Orin back, rubbing her hair lightly.

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Renko and Nitori were already leaving to work on the machine. After hearing the tale about how Ail and Maribel ended in Makai Rinnosuke was waving goodbye from the gate as he headed back home, and Cirno was flying back to the lake and Reimu was now more determined to get Ail and Maribel, particularly Ail, back from Makai. She was angry, and she wanted to beat him up. That spell card Cirno found in his room seemed to get on Reimu's bad side rather quickly. She picks up some scrolls, charms and her gohei and walks to the mountains along with Sanae.

Mima, and Suika follow closely shouting "WAIT!" "Don't leave us alone with that woman!"

Tenshi had apparently left during the night since nobody knew where she was now, and now Kyo was going to go with the others as well. Luna pulls him back and turns him around.

She gets flirty and says "say, why don't we go sight-seeing?"

Kyo smiles and says "sorry, but first we get my friend back, and then we can go do whatever we want."

Luna pouts, but Kyo just crosses his arms triumphantly and says "sorry, that's not gonna work. Look, I promise to give you all the time I can to you, but AFTER we help my friend, alright?"

Luna frowns and shouts "FINE!!! Go help you friend, I don't care! I'll just go by myself!"

Kyo sighs and sounding very disappointed, he says "alright then, go. But you can't change my mind about this... just remember the rules of this place."

Luna crosses her arms, turning away from Kyo and says "yeah, yeah."

Kyo turns around then turns his head to Luna, but she didn't even glance his way. He sighs and says "I'll see you later then. Take care" and then leaves.

After he's out of sight, Luna lets out a puff of air and says to herself "idiot! You should pay more attention to me! Bah... what am I saying?"

She grabs her belt and swords, closes the shrine's doors behind her, then walks down the stairs to the shrine to explore more of Gensokyo by herself.

Inside the shrine, Yorihime wakes up and realizes everyone was gone. She sits up, rubs her eyes and unconsciously says "good morning Toyohi--"

She realized what she was just saying and stops. She gets angry and thinks "Yorihime, you idiot, you're not home. Get it together!"

Suddenly she started to sob; her sobbing could be heard outside by a little night sparrow that happens to be passing by.

After waving goodbye to Genjii, Kyo continues his way to the mountains, when he suddenly stops. He clenches his fists and side-steps behind a tree. Shortly after hiding, from one of the bushes, a small girl with long black hair tied up in a ponytail by an indigo ribbon with frills, dark blue eyes, pale skin, tight clothes, covered by a pair of shorts and an open blue jacket, and a strap with a red jewel around her neck and one around her waist, jumps out and says "drats, I missed him!"

From behind her comes Rumia saying "is that so~? Agava is just too slow~!"

Agava clenches her fist as she turns around to face Rumia, then waves her fist at her face saying "watch it, missy, or you'll be dining on my knuckle sandwich again."

Rumia giggles and says "oh yes, it's really yummy!"

Agava raises her fist, ready to strike, but Rumia simply shoots some lasers along with some green energy balls and knocks Agava out quickly.

"I win again~!" says Rumia.

Agava coughs a little and says "that was a cheap shot."

From behind her, Kyo says "nope. I'd say she got you fair and square. She even gave you some warning."

When Kyo spoke, Agava shrieks and runs behind Rumia, trembling. Rumia looks at Kyo for a moment then says "it's you. Kyo~!"

Kyo bangs his chest and says "well of COURSE it's me."

Rumia floats toward him with her arms extended, then hugs him around his neck. After she lets go she tells him "you smell really sweet... but you're still so bitter!"

Kyo realizes she had licked his neck during their hug. He gets angry and forcing a fake smile, he says "you've got some nerve, you little..."

Just then, Agava remembers Kyo, that friend of Ail and Reimu's. She smiles and thinks "this behemoth could be of help to me! Yeah, I could become his friend, get closer to Reimu, and KILL her in her sleep. It's perfect... gotta play it nice and slow, though."

She gets closer to Kyo and before she presents herself, he says "Agava? Well, I never though I'd see YOU alive. So how are you?"

Agava was shocked and says "what do you mean by THAT!? *Ahem* I mean, yes... hi, how are you?"

Kyo laughs and says "sorry, sorry. I didn't mean anything by that."

Agava smiles and asks "and where are you going? Can we come along?"

Kyo thinks for a moment and says "well why not? Reimu said we could use many more hands."

Agava jumps on to Kyo's left shoulder and says "sure, I am very helpful. Isn't that right, Rumia?"

Rumia smiles vacantly and says "is that so~?"

At the same time, Kyo and Agava sigh and say "ugh, that's so annoying!"

-

By jumping from tree to tree, and running quite fast while grounded, Luna reaches a hill called "The Nameless Hill"

She stares at the sign and says "if it's nameless, why call it 'The Nameless Hill'...? This makes no sense."

She continues walking forward when she spots a colossal flower field. All the flowers in there looked a sickly purple color, however, ignoring this, Luna gets in to the flower field and runs to the very center of it. She looks behind her and sees a trail of purplish gas behind her. She grabs both swords, crosses the blades, then slashes the air, generating a shock wave that blows the gas away from her, but also cuts the flowers in it's path into pieces. She sheathes her swords once more and continues to quietly gaze at the flowers.

After observing the flowers for some time she says "they're all poisonous. Still, they look beautiful. I wonder if I could use this poison for something, though?"

She was about to bend down and pick some flowers, but suddenly unsheathes her swords again and says "little girls should be home with their parents, little one."

A blond girl with silver eyes, wearing a black and red dress, accompanied by a flying doll that dressed just like the girl stands behind Luna. She giggles and says "are you stupid or something, human!?"

Luna turns around looking furiously at the little girl, pointing the sharp end of her blades at her. After turning around and getting a better look of the girl, she smiles and says "interesting. A doll that has life? How very unusual. Shouldn't you be in the hands of some stupid little girl or something?"

These word infuriated the doll. She clenches her little fists and shouts "watch your mouth, you stupid human! I'll NEVER be in the hands of the likes of you ever again. I, Medicine Melancholy, will free all the dolls from your evil human hands."

Luna smirks and says "a giant doll that wants to free other dolls from humans? How pathetic. You know, you should do something better with your life."

Medicine growls and shouts "I'll kill you, for starters!"

-

"Su-san, go!" shouts Medicine.

The little doll above Medicine's head pulls out a large lance twice her own size from under her skirt and lunges directly at Luna, but Luna cuts the lance into pieces long before it even came into range. Su-san gets shocked and flies back to Medicine as quickly as she could.

Luna points the side of her swords' hilts and smiles as she says "the pain will only last for a second."

She squeezes a small trigger, but her smirk quickly vanishes and turns to an angry growl. "What the hell is this!? Where are my bu--"

Luna was angrily swinging her blades in front of her after realizing that instead of bullets, small knife danmaku came out of her weapon instead. She thrashes about, shredding the flower around her, then stops with a realization.

"That's right... that lady that opened the gaps..."

She remembers Yukari getting very close to her just before she entered the gap to Gensokyo, and grabbed both her swords in an instant. She claimed she was just admiring them, but now Luna knows the truth. She exchanged the deadly bullets for danmaku bullets.

She screams to the air in a rage and after doing so, she breathes heavily, looking murderously at Medicine and says "fine! *pant* I'll just cut you to shreds!"

-

Medicine jumps out of Luna's way just as she lunged at her. After recovering, she uses some poisonous flowers and sends them spinning straight at Luna, however she blocks them with her swords and instinctively shoots back with her danmaku guns.

While Medicine did her best to dodge the blasts, Luna yells "FINE! I'll just waste these useless bullets and cut you to pieces after!"

She kept shooting and shooting until she realized soemthing and stopped. "So... these bullets are using my own energy. I see... so they're not as useless as I though... I just have to be more careful how much I use at once."

Luna stops shooting and rushes to Medicine, but Medicine tossed two of those flowers at her, landing one straight on to Luna's face. Luna grabs her face and starts to jump in place "owing" as she did, then pulls the flower off, revealing singed skin right between her eyes.

She smiles dangerously and says "you little freak! You're gonna pay for that!"

Luna slashes wildly and cuts off Medicine's left hand pinkie. Medicine yelps and runs away from Luna, however she quickly follows with murderous intent, so without wasting another second, Medicine inhales as much air as she could and blows out a thick cloud of poison straight at Luna's face. Luna stops in her tracks and start coughing violently.

Medicine trips, falling down on the ground, but stays sitting there.

She calms herself down and calmly says "you-you human! You are too dangerous, so now you will die thanks to my poison. Enjoy your last moments!"

Luna continues to cough violently, but then her coughing stops. She inhales and starts faking her coughing as the cloud vanishes. Medicine looks to her direction suspiciously, then Luna's coughs turn to laughter.

Medicine gasps and backs away saying "n-n-no~! I-i-imposible! How c-can you be a-a-alive!?"

The poisonous could vanishes.

Luna just stood there, smiling at Medicine then said "you'll find it's easier to bring down a castle, than to kill me. I'm immune to poisons, my dear. Now..."

Luna walks closer to Medicine, pointing her left blade at the shivering youkai doll, with a look of satisfaction on her face. She raises the blade to the air, then lunges it toward Medicine and shouting "...DI~E~~!"

Medicine gasps and curls into a ball, trembling on the ground and quietly sobbing, awaiting her doom, however, Luna's blade was stopped by Su-san, just inches away from Medicine.

-

Luna was surprised to witness this sort of act from a lifeless doll. She let's go of her blade, letting it fall to the ground, and just as Medicine hears the blade drop, she looks up and notices Luna staring at her black gloved left hand, then sees Su-san, her face and torso cut open, falling down to the ground.

"Su... Su-san?"

The little doll tried to fly up, but it was too damaged and could not get back up. Medicine starts to shout and cry out Su-san's name.

Luna backs away and thinks "what the hell's this feeling? I'm supposed to kill anyone and anything that threatens my own life... and yet."

Medicine looks angrily at Luna and shouts "you stupid human! Look what you did to Su-san!"

Luna was in complete shock and could not answer; just think to herself "I can't believe this... This stupid heart of mine, is- I'm feeling sorry for this doll? Of all the damned things, a doll? An useless doll!"

Medicine kept sobbing, holding on to Su-san and embracing her. Luna finally snaps out of it, walks closely to them and picks up her sword.

"D-don't! The fighting's over, I have to get Su-san to the doll-maker!" shouts Medicine, trying to back away from Luna, but Luna sheathes her sword and offers her white gloved right hand to Medicine saying "come on!" while looking elsewhere.

Medicine gets angry and says "like I'd ever become friends with YOU!"

but Luna glares at Medicine and says "HEY! Don't get me wrong... I'm just upholding my honor as a fighter, and nothing more. Who would want to be friends with a poisonous doll like you anyway?"

Medicine thinks for a moment, looking at Luna's eyes, then accepts her hand.

Luna lifts her up and gruffly asks "so where's this doll-maker. I'll escort you there, and that's that!"

Medicine looks away as she says "hmph! Fine. I'll allow you to escort me there then. She lives in the Forest of Magic."

Luna blushes a bit and says "I'm new here... so you'll have to show me the way."

Medicine stares at Luna in shock and says "geez. Some escort you are!"

Luna then shouts back "watch it, you overgrown puppet!" then Medicine shouts back "who are you calling a puppet, you meat-ball!"

-

At the Hakurei Shrine at mid-day, Yuki, Marisa, Alice and Keine fly to the back of the shrine, calling out to Reimu, quickly realizing the shrine was closed. Behind them were Satori, Okuu and Orin, calling out to Reimu as well.

"Oh, I wasn't expecting Reimu to have guests today." calmly said Satori.

Okuu rushes to meet the others and says "wow, the black and white has a twin! Look, look!"

Satori and Orin both look at Marisa and Yuki, who were just standing there, smiling back at them, both saying "hi" at the same time.

Orin and Satori look at them for a little longer and then say "they're not related" at the same time.

Okuu looked confused and scratches her head, then continues to look at the two black and white girls. Marisa and Yuki look at each other with a glint in their eyes, and start to move in circles around each other and saying "who am I?" "Where am I?" "Do you know me?" "I'm over here!" "No, I'm over here"

Okuu's eyes start to spin and faints, releasing a large atomic blast just as she fell. Satori, keeping her calm looks, panics, as Orin freaks out, calls out to her master, and pulls behind the trees around the shrine. Marisa and Yuki run away as Alice and Keine form up a barrier, hoping to stop the blast. When the energy ball was inches away from impacting the ground, Yorihime dashes from inside the shrine with her sword at hand and cuts the balls into so many small pieces; the damage from the thousand tiny blasts did little, to no damage at all.

Yorihime sheathes her sword and says "I don't know why you Earthlings misuse your powers like that. If this were the moon... ooh, I'd seal you all away in a heartbeat!"

They all look confused at Yorihime, Keine saying "err... thank you miss."

Satori had gotten close to Yorihime and stared at her in wonder, saying "I see, you're from the moon. How amazing, missis Yorihime. My name is Satori, and we're here looking for Reimu."

Yorihime stares back at Satori in shock and surprise, but says nothing.

Satori bows and says "I apologize. I have the ability to read the minds and hearts of others, and I see that Reimu is farther into the mountains. Orin, get Okuu and come with me. Thank you for your time, missis Yorihime."

Yorihime was still in a complete state of shock and wouldn't reply, or move from that spot. As Satori and her pets went in farther to the back of the shrine, Yuki and Marisa get close to Yorihime, poke her, but got no reaction, so they shrug and follow after Satori, however, Keine catches up to them, pulling their ears and says

"NOT-so-fast! You two almost cause a disaster here! As punishment, I want BOTH of you to write down 'I will not cause problems for teacher' 300 times, and I want this ready BEFORE we reach Reimu!"

She keeps pulling on their ears as they head into the forest behind the shrine, Yuki saying "ow~ No fair!" then Marisa says "I can't write like this!"

Alice stays behind for a bit and places her hand on her face and says "these two are so immature."

She pats Yorihime on the shoulder and says "just don't think about it too much, or you'll go mad."

With that, she leaves, following the others to the mountains.

After everyone leaves, Yorihime lets her arms drop and she looks up to the sky and says "Toyohime, I miss you, sis. I miss my home so much..."

From the shrine stair, Eirin calls "hello~! Reimu~! Yorihime~!?"

-

At the mountains behind the shrine, Kyo, Rumia, Agava, Renko, Nitori, Mima, and Suika were all working on the machine diligently, while Sanae confronted Reimu behind some trees.

"What's the matter with you now, Reimu!? First you didn't want to help at all, then you just came because of your donation box, and now you just want to kill Ail. What's the matter with you!?"

Reimu stays quiet, then shows Sanae the spell card Cirno had found. Sanae looks at it carefully and then, looking angry she asks "it's a spell card... so what!?"

Reimu signals Sanae to get closer and whispers something to her ear. Sanae gasps and backs away, covering her mouth as she did.

"I don't know if he's used it yet, but this thing is a clear violation of the rules I implemented. He has a lot to explain when I get my hands on him." says Reimu.

Sanae's face turns a bit pale as she looks at her feet and forces herself to say "I'm sorry Reimu... I didn't know."

Reimu signals Sanae so be quiet and says "don't say anything to the others."

Sanae raises her sight and asks "then why did you tell me, if it's-"

Reimu scoffs and says "come on! I'm not stupid. You care about him, don't you?"

Sanae's face turns beet red as she said "well of course... he's a good friend, and lady Kanako and lady Suwako like him a lot too, so..."

Reimu smirks and says "that's what I thought."

Sanae's face turn even more red, then Reimu says "I won't say another word, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else about this spell card. It could be dangerous."

Sanae gulps and nods, just as Satori, Orin, Okuu, Keine, and Alice arrive at the site.

"Excuse us~! Reimu, sis, are you here!?" shouts Orin.

-

After explaining all that had happened to Orin, Okuu and Satori, Orin grabs her wheelbarrow and helps by transporting materials from many destination back to Nitori, and doing so quite fast.

"I'll leave my Orin in you care then, miss maiden." said Satori as she and Okuu prepare to fly back home.

Reimu nods and says "don't worry, she'll be fine."

Before leaving, Satori whispers to Reimu "keep an eye out on Kyo. Something's bothering him. A woman with silver hair." and leaves along with Okuu afterward.

Reimu looks at Kyo suspiciously and shouts "Kyo, you want to go back and rest?"

Kyo, while holding on to a steel rod as Nitori and Mima tightly screwed another one on top shouts back "no way. If we keep this pace up, we might get Ail and the girl back by tomorrow!"

Reimu shouts back "alright then, just keep focused then!"

She turns to Alice and Keine and asks "and why are you looking for me?"

Alice sighs and says "we got a very unusual visitor here with us. She says Ail is fine and... well I'll let her explain. Yuki!"

From behind some trees, Marisa and Yuki come out holding on to many papers and hand them to Keine saying "here teacher."

"We won't do it again, teacher."

Keine stops them and says "you both missed one sentence... and you, Marisa, wrote that you will do it again on page 20, I see..."

Keine grabs Marisa's head, bends backward and headbutts Marisa hard.

"Yuki~!" shouts Keine.

Yuki slouches and says "aww ma~n!"

Keine grabs Yuki's face, bends back, and headbutts her as well. Both black and white witches stagger as they hold on to their heads in pain.

Reimu looks at them and says "those two could be related" then Alice says "you have no idea."

-

Once they regained their senses, Marisa sits down to watch the others work, while Yuki, Keine and Alice stay and speak with Reimu.

"Wow, Reimu, you sure have changed since I last saw you... oh, but you still haven't developed, I see." says Yuki.

Without any warning, Yuki receives a gohei to the head and says "as temperamental as ever too."

Reimu looks at her angrily and says "I don't even remember you, and you are a VERY rude person, you know that?"

Yuki start to cry jet waterfalls bawling "waah~~! I remember you all this time and this is how you greet me? You're so mean!"

Alice pats her on the shoulder and says "you're wasting your time."

Yuki calms down and says "fine, miss forgetful maiden, I'll tell you about Ail... *Ahem* He's fine, and Maribel too. Both are really polite, and we really liked them, and they cheered up Lady Shinki, and are doing fine actually."

Reimu looks at her casually, then smiles and says "and how is it that you got here?"

Yuki smiles and says "I don't know. We were having a friendly magic battle when suddenly Maribel shot at Ail with those exploding hearts, then I received some icicles in my ample chest, then I was sent inside this portal, and I landed right in front of Marisa's house."

Alice was holding Reimu's arm back ever since Yuki mention her "ample chest", telling her to calm down.

Reimu suddenly gasps and says "wait a minute... when Maribel said something about only having those weak hearts, that's when the gap first opened... maybe..."

Alice and Keine look at her, then Alice says "you're suggesting her powers affect his?"

Reimu nods and says "exactly."

Suddenly Yuki's mood changes and sounding terribly depressed she says "so can I go home soon? This place is great and all, but I miss Mai, I miss Lady Yumeko... I miss my home."

Reimu was a bit surprised, seeing this complete mood change and says "well, Nitori thinks that by tomorrow, the machine will be ready, and we will be able to enter Makai."

Yuki's expression and mood change like night to day as she smiles again and excitedly says "REALLY!? That is GREAT!"

Marisa had heard the whole thing and said "but before you go, you HAVE to visit this LOVELY spot here in Gensokyo, ze. You game!?"

Yuki smiles and starts to fly and says "hurry up, slowpoke. I wanna see this spot!"

Marisa sits on her broom and quickly catches up to Yuki, saying "slowpoke!? We'll see who's the slowpoke!" and then both start racing to that spot Marisa was talking about.

Reimu rubs her head and says "Alice, Keine, would you-?"

Keine was already flying when Alice says "we'll keep an eye on them *sigh*. Seriously, it's like taking care of children." and then flies along with Keine, following Marisa and Yuki.

-

Noon at Makai. Mai, Luize, Maribel and Ail were at the field close to Sara's post. Sara kept watching them and wondered what were they up to, but wouldn't not go far from her post.

Ail and Luize were covered in dirt. Both were making holes all over the ground, while Mai and Maribel guarded two large brown sacks.

Luize and Ail, after looking at each other, point and laugh.

"Your face is a complete mess, Ail" said Luize.

Ail smirks and says "can't be as bad as yours."

Luize gets a bit annoyed and says "well at least I got my shoes off BEFORE they got full of stones."

Ail laughs, followed by Luize. Mai shouts "are you two done already?"

Both fly up to Maribel and Mai and nod. Ail then says "just pour in the seeds and we'll take care of the rest."

Maribel wiggles her cat ears as she giggles, making Luize have to hug her, and Mai blush a little.

Ail also blushes a little but then takes a deep breath and says "alright, alright, enough of that. Let the seeding begin."

Mai and Maribel each grab one of the large brown bags and fly above the field, opening the bags and pouring all kinds of seeds all over. Just then, Shinki and Yumeko arrive.

Yumeko gets closer to Ail, holding his cloak and saying "here, I cleaned this for you as promised."

Ail bows and thanks her as he accepts the cloak. It was as clean as ever, the large bloodstain at the back completely gone.

As he places it on a stump, he says "you gotta teach me how to clean like that, Yumeko."

Yumeko only smirks and says "really? I've been told I'm a very harsh tutor. You think you can handle it?"

Ail sweats a little and says "yeah. I can handle it... but not just now, heh heh."

Shinki giggles and says "I'm so glad you two are finally getting along. Oh..."

Shinki lowers her voice so only Yumeko and Ail could hear her and asks "how's that eye?"

Ail quietly answers "the swelling's gone and it finally stopped bleeding."

Shinki nods and says "remember to tell me if anything's wrong. I may not be a great healer, but I'm sure I can help."

Just then, Mai and Maribel come back with the empty sacks and say "all done" at the same time.

Ail smiles and says "then it's our turn."

-

Ail stands in the middle of the field with Yumeko to his right, Shinki all the way back on the edge of the field. Ail expands his arms and says "ok, let's do this nice and easy."

Shinki starts to glow white, then steps inside the field, immediately filling the entire field in white light. When the light reaches Yumeko, she absorbs some and start to teleport from side to side, distributing the energy around Ail. Once she was done, she teleports back to where Maribel and Mai were, then watches. Ail crouches down and places his hands on the ground, then suddenly, the light begins to flicker all over and plants start to grow quickly.

After a few minutes of distributing energy, Ail opens his eyes and flies up, heads toward Shinki, and grabs her hand, just as she stops glowing white, and both land next to Yumeko, Mai and Maribel. Sara and Luize watch in awe as the once burned and dead field becomes a forest once more.

All celebrate the job well done, cheering and hugging each other. Shinki hugs Ail tightly and says "thanks for your help. Now, it's just a matter of time before Makai returns to it's former self."

Shinki let's go of Ail, then heads to celebrate with Yumeko.

Many fruit trees start sprouting now, along with many cooking and medicinal herbs. Many of the beings of Makai join in the celebration as well, all excited that Makai was returning to it's former glory.

-

Having cleaned themselves up, Ail, Luize, Mai and Maribel join in the small feast that was being held by the new forest. After a little while, Ail gets away from the festivities and heads to where Sara was.

"So you still won't join in?" says Ail, as he offers Sara a plate with fruits and vegetables, and a cup of tea.

Sara accepts with a smile and says "even during festivities, someone has to guard this gate. Even if it's sealed."

Ail smiles back at her and says "well, I won't tell you how to live your life, but sometimes it's nice to share with others, don't you think?"

Sara giggles and takes a bite out of a piece of orange and says "with friends like you *gulp* and Luize, and even Maribel... I think it's enough for me."

Maribel joins in the private party, smiling and saying "so this is where you two were! Come on, why don't you join in?"

Ail, who looked tired, says "I'm spent. I think I'll just sit here and take a small nap."

Sara says "I'm not the group type."

Maribel looks at both of them disappointed and says "aww~! Then I'll stay here and cause enough of a ruckus for the three of us."

Sara and Ail giggle, then suddenly Maribel sneezes. Sara and Ail look at her in shock. Maribel looks at them and asks "what?" Sara points behind Maribel.

She looks at herself and says "look, look! I grew a tail! Ooh, it's so soft!"

Ail and Sara look at each other in disbelief, then back at Maribel, who kept petting her own, brand new yellow cat tail and repeating "anya~, it's so soft."

Sara and Ail both blush, but wouldn't say a word.

-

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Luna and the Light Sign - Within the Jewel's Core spell card were created by Willie G.R. (similarities are strictly coincidental)

AUG 10 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	8. Chapter 7

At Gensokyo, Reimu is told about a particular spell card found by Cirno and Rinnosuke at Ail's house. She was not happy about it, and now wants to get Ail by the neck. Orin is now helping build Nitori's machine, after learning what had happened to Ail and Maribel, speeding up the process of construction. Luna had a fight with Medicine, the poisonous youkai doll, and cut Su-san badly, and now Luna, feeling sorry for Medicine and Su-san, is going to help them get to the doll-maker. Yuki and Marisa are headed to one of Gensokyo's sights, followed closely by Keine and Alice, and Yorihime seems to be losing herself in Gensokyo, however, an unexpected visit from Eirin might change all that. At Makai, Ail helped Shinki and Yumeko revive a forest, beginning the recovery of Makai at last.

-

At Gensokyo, the Garden of the Sun, Marisa and Yuki arrive, Yuki 'ooh-ing' and 'aah-ing' at the many flowers there.

"Wow, this is amazing. I've never seen so many flowers in one place!" exclaims Yuki as she gets in to one of the many flowerbeds.

She was completely awestruck when she saw a gigantic blue flower blooming in the middle of that flowerbed. Although it was unknown to her, she was looking at the very first flower Ail revived for Yuka. She watches it with amazement and wonder if she could rest on top of one of the petals. Just as she was going to try and sit on it, Marisa calls her.

"Oy~! Yuki, come over here for a second, ze!"

Yuki runs to where Marisa was, stepping on some smaller flowers, shouting "co~~ming~!"

Behind her, Yuka watches with a smile on her face that suggested great danger. For the time being, she only watched as the two blond black and whites had their fun.

Moments later, Keine and Alice arrive.

"Marisa~, Yuki~! Where are you?" shouts Keine.

From farther ahead Marisa shouts back "over here, you two! Daze~!"

Alice and Keine look at each other with worry, but walk toward Marisa's voice.

They could hear Yuki asking "Marisa, why do you say 'daze' and 'ze' so much?"

Marisa stays quiet for a moment then replies "you forget, I also say 'zei', zei~!"

"Oh, I see" replies Yuki, forgetting the question she just asked.

Alice calmly says "well, at least they haven't caused any tro-"

Keine sniffs around, then Alice looks up at the sky, watching smoke rise up toward the clouds.

"Fire!?" exclaim Keine and Alice at the same time, both with their faces at pale as ghosts.

They rush to the scene and spot Marisa and Yuki, piling up many sunflowers, burning them and roasting the seeds. When they arrive, Marisa and Yuki both wave at them casually, and greeting them.

"There you are. You're just in time. We've roasted some sunflower seeds. Come and get some, ze!" says Marisa, ignoring the faces of terror so evident on Alice and Keine.

Yuki adds "my, it's been so long since I had roasted sunflower seeds. So delicious!"

Marisa stares at the terrorized girls and asks "what's with you two? Is there something in my face, da~ze?"

Alice gets furious and shouts "you two IDIOTS! Put that fire out before-!"

From behind Keine and Alice, smiling a very dangerous blood-thirsty smile, Yuka asks "before what?"

Both Alice and Keine freeze with fear, and trembling, they turn their heads around and see Yuka, standing right behind them, smiling and gripping her umbrella tightly, squeezing and twisting her hands around it.

"Y-Y-Y-Yuka!" exclaims Alice as she quickly back away along with Keine.

Keine says "w-w-wonderful weather... d-don't you agree?"

Yuka stops smiling and looks casually at the two of them and says "well, aren't you two the nervous little troublemakers~!"

Alice and Keine look at each other, then back at Yuka.

Keine asks in a demanding tone "troublemakers!? What do you mean 'troublemakers'!? We're not the ones burning your beautiful flowers!"

Yuka slightly opens her eyes and says "now, now. When the children misbehave, it's the parents or guardians who have to answer for them. Don't worry, the punishment will be swift."

Alice shouts back "HEY! That's not fair! THEY'RE the ones with the fire!!!"

Yuka points her umbrella at them and says "didn't you hear me before? Take responsibility for these children, you neglectful mother! Or are you the father?"

-

A loud explosion rattles the Flower field, followed by Alice and Keine, shooting back and flying away, chased by Yuka Kazami, who kept shooting large beams of light at them. Marisa and Yuki watch the fireworks as they continue to enjoy their roasted sunflower seeds under the late afternoon sun.

"What's with all that ruckus?" asks Yuki.

Marisa shrugs as she stuffs her mouth with some more seeds and says "I 'unno. Lookhs prethy, dough."

From behind her, a mischievous voice says "fu, fu, fu~! Ladies should swallow their food before talking."

It was Yukari, who grabs a handful of roasted sunflower seeds after surprising Marisa and Yuki. Yuki stares at the gap youkai for some time, feeling as if she knew her.

Yukari keeps watching the fight as she says "Yuki, my dear, you've grown quite a bit since I last saw you."

Marisa was puzzled "Yukari knows Yuki? But how?" she thought to herself.

After thinking for a bit, Marisa asks "ok, tell me... How do you know Yuki, Yukari?"

Just then, Yuki snaps out of though, snaps her finger and excitedly says "of course! Yukari! Yukari, it's been so long! Why did you stop visiting?"

Yukari opens her fan to cover her mouth as she watches the fight continue under the darkening sky and says "the gate to Makai was sealed, remember?"

Yuki thinks for a moment, which for some reason, reminded Marisa of Cirno, then says "oh yeah... I forgot about that."

Yukari giggles and says "I'm quite glad to see you again, Yuki. How's everything?"

Yuki swallows a seed whole and says "it's a mess in there, but home is home."

Yukari strikes Yuki on the head with her fan and says "chew your food, dear!"

Yuki giggles, then Marisa shushes them both, saying "quiet, the fight's about to end."

They watch as the doll-maker and the teacher face Yuka, preparing their best attacks, but Yuka shoots them with a double spark, crossing the beams and causing a massive explosion in the air that lights up the early night skies. All three blonds watch the scene with amazement and all three say "oooh~~~!" as the two girls fall down to the unforgiving ground.

Yuka comes down to where the three blonds were and says "you children are still in big trouble."

Marisa pulls her hand out of her pocket and says "hey, we're on your side, see? We saved these so you can regrow them, zei!"

Marisa hands Yuka a handful of sunflower seeds, which she accepts and after patting Marisa on the head and saying "you're good girls after all" heads to where the other sunflowers were and starts to plant them and regrow them all.

Yukari looks a bit surprised and says "my, what a smart little burglar you are."

Yuki laughs as Marisa says "hey~, I'm NOT a burglar!"

-

Night at the Hakurei Shrine. Everyone but Kyo was already asleep or lying on their backs, moaning with muscle pain.

Reimu, looking very tired, walks to Kyo on the shrine's porch and says "if you're that worried, go look for her."

Kyo chuckles and says "you don't know her like I do. If I go look for her now, while she's still mad, it's only going to get worse for me. I'll just wait for her to come back."

Reimu shrugs and says "well, whatever. Oh, I hope you already had a talk with her. She seems to be getting on everyone's bad side... including mine. That's dangerous here."

Kyo turns his head to look at Reimu through the corner of his eye and says "yeah... I'm sorry about that. But don't worry, she'll calm down. Just give her some time, please."

Reimu pats Kyo on the shoulder and says "you have really changed, haven't you?"

Kyo looks at the ground and says "oh really? I AM a lot cooler than the last time I saw you."

Reimu sweats a little and says "right... cooler... I'll go to sleep now. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day. Oh, you're welcome to come inside if you want."

Kyo lightly shakes his head and says "after she comes back, if it's alright."

Reimu nods, then yawns and stretches as she heads inside, saying "good night, then."

After the lights went off inside the shrine, Kyo heads to the trees, admiring the orange leaves of autumn and says "maybe this was a bad idea after all." then walks toward the large red gate in front of the shrine.

-

At the Forest of Magic, in front of Alice's house, Medicine and Luna arrive to find Alice was not there.

"You idiot! If we hadn't gone through the town, we would have been here earlier, and Alice would be home!" shouted Medicine angrily at Luna.

Luna grows softly and says "well, who was it that when we arrived at town tired TO TAKE AWAY THAT LITTLE GIRL'S DOLL in the FIRST PLACE!?"

Luna and Medicine bang their faces, angrily staring at each other as Medicine replies "I MUST free the dolls from the humans, before they abandon them and leave them to rot with the rest of the garbage!"

Luna backs away, her heart feeling sorrow once more.

She growls and says "fine, fine... Just be more careful next time. Look, that doll-maker is not here, so there's no point in staying."

Medicine looks at Su-san, admiring the cut on her face and half of her torso.

She sobs "then what about Su-san?"

Luna thinks for a moment then says "look, there are many people in the shrine I'm staying. Why don't we go there for now? Maybe that doll-maker is there too. Ugh! I can't believe I'm saying this. I hate those people!"

Medicine perks up and asks "you hate humans too?"

Luna tries to look away, but she forces to angrily stare at Medicine and shout "well WHY NOT!? Humans! They're nothing but a pestilence!"

Medicine think "a human that hates humans?"

Luna lightly shakes her head and says "look, let's get going, alright?"

Medicine was still in awe as she nods and start walking alongside Luna. She continues to stare at Luna as they walk back and wonders about her.

For a moment, she thinks they could be friends, but she violently shakes her head and thinks "no, no, no! This woman is an enemy! She's just trying to trick me. I'll have to keep my guard up!"

-

At midnight, Luna and Medicine arrive at the shrine, but as expected, everyone was sound asleep. Luna opens the doors slightly and peeks inside.

Medicine whispers "I don't see the doll-maker in there."

Luna quietly closes the doors and whispers "then let's sleep and wait until everyone wakes up. It should be easier to find that doll-maker during day anyway."

Medicine nods and follows Luna to the gates, where they spot Kyo, sleeping behind the left column of the large red gate.

Luna stares at him as Medicine whispers "who's that?"

Luna almost lets out a smile, but forces herself to remain casual and whispers back "a friend of mine."

Luna grabs Medicine by her waist, startling her, but she shushes her as she sits beside Kyo, sitting Medicine on her lap, and whispers "let's sleep here for tonight."

Medicine felt very uncomfortable at first, but quickly felt tired, and fell rapidly asleep on Luna's lap.

-

At Entei, there was one light still on in the living room of the mansion. Sitting around the table were Eirin and Reisen by one side, and Yorihime and Mystia by the other. Mystia had fallen asleep, leaning against Yorihime, as she, Reisen and Eirin talked.

"Again... I'm sorry I acted like that. I know you better than this, an do know you'll keep your word." said Eirin in an apologetic tone of voice.

Yorihime smiles and says "it's alright. Let's just leave all that behind us."

Eirin smiles back and bows, then looks at Mystia a bit puzzled and asks "are you ok with that little one leaning on you like that?"

Yorihime pats the sleeping Mystia on the head and says "yes. This little one is actually very sweet. She listened to me as I rambled on like an old woman. Although, she was a bit pushy about those lamprey, but they sure were good."

Eirin and Reisen giggle, then Yorihime turns her attention ot Reisen and says "so, Udonge *giggle*, this is where you've been hiding all along."

Reisen blushes, turning her sights to her knees, thinking about all those she left behind in that war.

Yorihime sighs and says "nobody hates you, but many are still a little disappointed that you left like you did."

Yorihime raises her sight to meet Eirin's who asks her "so then, will you be staying..? Until the next full moon, I mean?"

Yorihime nods and says "but I better let Reimu know. She may seem uncaring, but I'm sure she'd be worried if I wasn't back when I said in the letter I left her."

Eirin smiles and says "already taken care of. As we speak, Tewi is delivering the letter to Reimu."

Reisen widens her eyes and says "I hope she doesn't cause any trouble..."

Eirin smiles a chilling smile and says "if you're so worried, go with her and make sure she delivers it safely."

Reisen flinches, but as soon as she recovers, she gets up, bows to Eirin, then Yorihime, saying "please excuse me" then rushes off to find Tewi.

"You're still as strict as ever" says Yorihime jokingly.

Eirin smiles back at Yorihime, making her feel a cold chill as she said "you could say I'm a bit more strict than I was back then."

Yorihime starts shivering, her face turns pale and tries to back away.

Eirin looks at her concerned and says "oh my, I was only joking."

-

Reisen spots Tewi entering the village and thinks "I knew it! She's gonna spend all night setting up traps for everyone."

She rushes inside the village and falls inside a pitfall Tewi had set right at the entrance.

Reisen looks up the round hole and says "I can't believe I keep falling for these!"

then Tewi looks down and mockingly says "Hey Reisen, I set up 9 more traps, and you just sprung trap number 10. Congratulations. Think you can find the rest and get to me before I deliver this?"

Reisen shouts back "Tewi, when I get my hands on you-!"

but from the houses some villagers shout "hey, keep it down!" "we're trying to sleep!" "what a loud youkai!" "has someone seen my pillow?"

Tewi smirks and waves at Reisen, then says "best keep your voice down, you loud youkai rabbit. See ya'" and then leaves the village in a hurry.

Reisen gets out of the hole as quickly as she could and runs toward the same direction as Tewi, but is quickly tied by her ankle and hung upside-down by the school's roof. She yelps, but quickly covers her mouth, then tries to keep her skirt up and figure a way out of that trap. She manages to untie the rope, but forgets to fly and falls face-first to the ground, falling in yet another pitfall, this one filled with mud at the bottom, covering Reisen in mud. She growls and flies up the hole, landing a few feet away from the school.

Reisen was furious, but she breathes and exhales, then calms down and start walking toward the shrine, however she trips on a thin wire that was tied to a bucket, carefully placed on one of the roofs. It falls on Reisen's head, covering her in white feathers.

Reisen growls again and quietly says "feathers? Of all the-" suddenly she started feeling itchy all over, then realizes the feathers were covered with fleas.

Reisen shouts "FLEA~~S! GET THEM OFF! AAH~!!"

As she ran around in circles, she trips and falls on her face again, triggering a bomb that blows up all the feathers, fleas and mud, waking up the villagers, who furiously glare at Reisen as she gets up rubbing her head. She notices the angry villagers and whimpers, but quickly starts running away. The villagers angrily shout as they chase her, but to Reisen's luck, she was almost outside the village when suddenly she notices five mounds of dirt. She jumps over them and happily laughs as she heads to the Hakurei Shrine.

The villagers weren't as lucky and triggered 5 paint bombs, covering themselves in a variety of colors, then a large spring sends them all back, one of them crashing against a seemingly invisible wall that releases itching powder. As the villagers frantically scratch, they trip a thin wire that opens up a giant barrel that floods the town with water, sending the villagers down a shallow hole that fills up with the water, then suddenly breaks down, sending them down a deeper hole with ladders on the sides.

When the ride was over, the younger villagers cheer and shout "let's do that again!" while the adults and elders moan and groan.

As for the final trap, one of the villagers that avoided the flood spots a large red button on the floor that said "Do Not Push" and so, he pushes it, igniting a rope that sends countless danmaku bullets toward the sky like fireworks, upon reaching it's destination.

-

Tewi had already left the letter next to the sleeping Reimu and was heading back when she notices Kyo, Luna and Medicine sleeping with heir backs against the large column of the gate. She snickers as she gets a bowl and fills it with water. She grabs Kyo's arm and tries to place it inside the water bowl, however Kyo had woken up and grabs Tewi, who tried to escape.

"What the hell is your problem, little rabbit!?" asks Kyo in a groggy voice.

Tewi whimpers "I'm sorry." but Kyo looks back at her, looking quite angry and says "sorry!? You got some nerve-"

Luna starts to moan. then Kyo realizes she was sleeping next to where he was before.

He quickly tip-toes away, holding Tewi by her ears and says "phew, that was close! If she had woken up, we'd both be in trouble."

Kyo sets Tewi gently on the ground, letting go of her ears and saying "you got lucky, but next time I won't be so forgiving."

Just then, Reisen reaches the shrine, enraged and shouting Tewi's name. Her clothes were in tatters, her skin singed, and her eyes filled with blind rage.

She spots Tewi and shouts "you little pain, I'm going to make you PAY!"

Kyo tries to signal Reisen to keep quiet, while Tewi gets behind him, hoping Reisen would keep away.

"And YOU!" shouts Reisen. "What are you doing here? UGH, never mind, just hand her over and I'll go!"

Kyo turns pale and Tewi gets in a state of shock. Reisen looks at both, then puzzled, she asks "what..? What is it?"

Luna and Medicine had woken up, and both looked dangerously angry. Luna grabs Reisen by her ears and beats her up like a carpet, then tosses her to the shrine's hot springs. Kyo and Tewi tried to get away, but Medicine had already poisoned both, making them confused and disoriented. Luna took this chance, pulled a figure four leg-lock on Kyo, then releases him, grabs him by the legs, then tosses him toward the hot spring. She grabs Tewi by her ears and twirls her around like a helicopter blade, then bangs her against the floor countless times, then tosses her to the hot spring as well. After that, both Luna and Medicine sit by the column again and quickly fall asleep.

-

It was finally morning, and Reimu was eating some rice cookies and drinking some tea as she read Eirin's letter.

She finishes reading and casually places it in one of her pockets and says "so she's staying with the aliens... good for her."

Renko and Nitori both come from the hot spring, looking a bit pale.

Reimu looks at them curiously, then Nitori says "there's something nasty floating in the springs..."

Reimu immediately heads to the hot springs and sees Reisen, Kyo and Tewi floating in the water, their eyes spinning as they smile, their faces bruised and their clothes in tatters.

"Eww" says Reimu. "They look just like sh-"

"exactly my thoughts" interrupted Renko, then adds "should we get them out of there?"

Reimu sighs and says "what a pain... fine, help me here."

Mima had just woken up and heads directly to the front of the shrine. She spots Luna, sleeping against the column along with Medicine on her lap. Then she looks to her left, and next to the Moriya Shrine's expansion, still in a daze were Reisen, Tewi and Kyo, all sitting with their backs against each other.

Mima frowns and says "things like these never happened in MY times." and heads back into the shrine.

Luna and Medicine both wake up and stretch the same way, at the same time. Luna looks at Medicine, and Medicine looks back at her. Both almost smile, but they suddenly realize what was going on and quickly turn their sighs away from each other.

"Hmph! For your sake, I hope that doll-maker is here!" angrily says Medicine.

Luna growls softly and says "watch that attitude, you little twerp!"

Medicine spring up from Luna's lap shouting "twerp!? How dare you!? Su-san, get-!"

Remembering why she was there for in the first place, Medicine gets depressed quickly. Again, Luna felt a tug in her heart.

She growls and thinks "again! For this TWERP! I must be getting soft!"

Luna suddenly realizes Kyo wasn't next to her then says "hey, where's Kyo?"

She looks to her right and sees him full of bruises, sitting with his back against two girls with rabbit ears.

She stares at them for a moment then shrugs and says "that man can be so strange sometimes."

-

After a while, Reimu comes with some tea and breakfast for everyone outside.

Luna and Medicine gruffly say "eh... thanks", while Reisen politely bows and thanks Reimu, Tewi quietly accepts the small meal, and Kyo only takes some tea.

"Remember, we're going into Makai at mid-day. Don't be late." says Reimu as she heads to the back of the shrine, but she is soon stopped by Keine and Alice.

Both looked enraged, breathing heavily, each one holding a bruised and beaten black and white witch.

They throw them on the ground in front of Reimu and grumble "they... are... YOUR pain now!"

Reimu calmly says "relax you two... take a dip in the hot springs and let me take care of these two."

Alice and Keine both get incredibly surprised.

Keine asks "i-is that you, Reimu?"

Reimu casually looks back at them and says "you can take them with you if you like."

Alice places her hand on Keine's mouth and nervously says "n-n-no, it's ok. We'll just head to the springs now, thanks." and after saying that she drags Keine along.

Medicine spots Alice and immediately takes the damaged Su-san and follows her, Luna following the little youkai doll.

Reimu taps Marisa, then Yuki on the head with her gohei saying "wake up. It's almost time to head into Makai!"

Both struggle to get up, still smiling, Yuki saying "last night was awesome!" then Marisa adds "yeah. I still wonder why those two were so mad at us."

Reimu continues on her way and shouts "hurry up, or get left behind."

Both witches look at each other and smile widely, then run toward Reimu, reaching her quickly, clinging on her arms, followed by Orin, who pushes them on to her wheelbarrow and gives them a ride to the mountains.

-

Kyo asks "Luna, aren't you coming with me to get Ail?"

Luna shakes her head lightly and says "I-... I owe something to this little one."

Kyo looks at her suspiciously, then grabs her hand and says "ok then. We'll be back at noon."

Luna nods then Kyo leaves, feeling a little bitter as she pulls her hand away from his. Just as he was about to reach the small woods behind the shrine, Agava, followed by Rumia, jumps on Kyo's shoulder and says "hey Kyo, buddy. Where are you going?"

Luna watches as he leaves, and again, feels a small tug in her heart, however she suppresses it quickly and says "Not yet, Kat-... Luna..."

then heads to the hot springs, noticing the two rabbit girls were now gone, however, even though she didn't want to admit it, she was more worried about Medicine and Su-san.

She enters the spring and looks around, spotting Keine, happily soaking herself inside the hot spring, and a little farther to the left was Alice, who was trying to enjoy her soak, but Medicine, who was standing just out of the water next to Alice, kept begging her to fix Su-san.

Luna though about entering the hot waters too, but got distracted by many figures flying in the sky, all headed to where Reimu and Kyo were headed earlier. Sanae, Sakuya, Suika, and Yorihime, accompanied by Eirin. Of course, Luna didn't know who she was, so she didn't pay much mind to her, until she gets a better look at Eirin, placing attention to her chest.

Luna growls and says "that woman better stay away from Kyo, or I'll kill her."

-

Morning at Makai. Everyone except Luize and Ail were already at the dinner table, enjoying a bit of breakfast. Yumeko had to plug her nose with some paper towels to stop the bleeding because Maribel kept saying "anyan~" every time she finished a sentence, making her nose bleed all the time. Other than that, it was a quiet morning, that is, until Ail wakes up.

"EUREKA~! THAT'S IT!"

Ail's shout of success startle everyone at the table. Shinki was about to go see what was happening, but Ail arrives there, running and laughing.

"Mister Ail, what the matter?" asks Maribel as she gets up.

Ail continues to laugh, grabbing Maribel by her arms and spinning around in place with her. Maribel starts to laugh too and cheer along with Ail until Yumeko grabs a metal plate, casually walks behind Ail, and grabs a metal spoon, banging the metal plate like a gong right behind Ail. Maribel's tail puffs and crisps from the shock, and Ail jumps so high, he reaches the ceiling and clings on to it, shivering as he looked down.

Yumeko, still looking very casual, asks "could you please calm down and tell us, why are you so excited?"

-

After Ail calmed down and ate some breakfast, he explains his early-morning excitement.

"I saw it in a dream. When I opened the gap from Gnesokyo to Makai, and the one from here to Gensokyo, Maribel had shot me with her hearts. So the answer became quite simple... Maribel's energy affects my gaps, which means that, now that I know this, we can go back home! Isn't it great!?"

Yumeko smiles and says "oh really? Well that's great! But... I was kinda getting used to you two by now... and-"

Maribel gets up from her chair and immediately heads toward Yumeko and gives her a big hug and says "I know! I'll miss all of you too, myu~!"

Yumeko had another nosebleed, but hugged her back.

Mai, sounding a bit sad says "you will certainly be missed around here..."

Shinki was trying hard to hide her face.

She was about to start crying, but with some tears in her eyes and pain in her hear, she lifts her head, forces out a smile and says "how wonderful for you. You'll be leaving soon, I suppose?"

Ail looked at her, then at Mai, and then at Yumeko, then thinks for a moment and says

"well, I am sure the others are quite worried about us too, and I'm sure the sooner we get home, the better, but please, you all look like we're saying 'goodbye'. Just think of this as a short fare well. Now that I know about this, Maribel and I are sure to come back and visit too."

Shinki giggles, feeling great relief and says "you're right. But suddenly saying you are leaving... that got us a bit off guard."

Mai and Yumeko nod at Ail, who feels a bit embarrassed, placing his left arm behind his head says "oh my, I'm sorry... that's true, heheh. I didn't mean it like that... sorry."

Maribel smiles and says "my, mister Ail, you're blushing."

The girls all giggle as Ail looks down, smiling and feeling even more embarrassed.

-

At Gensokyo, Kyo was thinking whether to turn around and go back for Luna, or continue on his little quest to go get Ail back form Makai. He stops mid-way and thinks. Agava, who was still on his shoulder, edges him to move on.

"Come on! Kyo, what's the matter, let's go!" urges Agava.

She gets off his shoulder and starts to push him. Kyo gets mad and shouts "stop that!"

Agava backs away and says "whoa! I was only trying to help, geez."

Rumia stops smiling and quietly hides behind a tree. Kyo turns around and looks at Agava, then asks "wait a second... what the deal here? Why do you want to help Ail. You hate him, don't you!?"

Agava, absent-minded, says "well of course I hate him. I just want you to get me close to Reimu, so I can kill her."

Agava thinks for a second and says "crap, that was WAY too honest!"

Kyo powers himself up saying "so, THAT'S why you were so interested in me. I knew someone as evil as you could never change!"

Agava snickers as the power amplifier around her neck glows bright red.

"So the cat's out of the bag." says Agava.

She snickers again and says "how about a duel? If I win, you have to take me to Reimu and help me defeat her."

Kyo looks at her seriously and asks "and what if I win?"

Agava ponders for a moment then says "if you win, you can have the power amplifier on my waist."

Kyo smiles and says "you're on." then activates the red energy around his arms, shaping both into swords and says "and I think I'm overdoing it by using these."

Agava laughs and says "you'll be surprised, mister. Now get ready to lose!"

-

Agava starts running around, bouncing from tree to tree at great speeds. Kyo gets a bit confused at first, but he calms down and closes his eyes. Agava lunges at him, aiming at his face with her tiny claws, but Kyo responds in time, blocking her and sending her back crashing against a tree.

She scowls as she gets up and draws out her only spell card and says "this is FAR from over! Shadow Morph!"

Her spell card activate and she turns into a small snake-like figure. She slithers around Kyo, releasing large black energy balls, however, Kyo cuts all to pieces, long before she launches them at him. She hisses and lunges at him, wrapping herself around his left arm.

Kyo, looking bored, says "you realize... I already won, right?"

He energizes his left hand, burning Agava as he did, then he grabs her tail with his right hand, energizes it, then slams her to the ground, defeating her quickly. She turns back to the little girl, lying on the ground with her eyes spinning.

Kyo grabs her belt saying "I believe this belongs to me now."

As soon as he removes the belt from her, it increases in size to fit him. He puts it around his waist and says "I make this thing look good, don't I?"

Agava laughs and says "I don't care. That amplifier stopped working since-"

As soon as Kyo puts the belt on, it starts glowing bright red, increasing the size of the energy around his arms. He smiles at Agava, who was so surprised, she fell back down on the floor as soon as she got up.

"But... but..."

Agava tried to say something, but Kyo simply waves at her and says "thanks for the gift. I'll be seeing you around." and continues his way to the mountains, having finally decided to go and help his friend.

-

It was almost mid-day at Makai. Ail and Maribel were getting ready to leave back home. Shinki was a bit sad, knowing they were about to leave, but Ail's promise of coming back and visit, kept her smiling all through the day. They had all flown to Sara's post, finding Luize, keeping Sara some company.

"So, you finally figured out how to go back home?" asks Luize.

Ail and Maribel smile and nod. Luize claps softly and says "marvelous. Although, I will miss you two so much. You two really livened up this place."

Maribel giggles and says "oh, but we promise to visit whenever we can, won't we mister Ail?"

Ail nods and says "I would really like to be here the day Makai is fully restored. Lend a hand, if I can."

He turns around to get a good look at Makai, then notices Shinki, away from the group, staring on to the horizon. He quietly approaches her as Mai started wiggling a cat's tail around, getting Maribel's attention, and making her pounce with a "anyan~" or a "mew~!" causing Yumeko, Luize to nosebleed again and Sara to blush tomato red.

When Ail gets close enough to Shinki she started talking before he said anything.

"That small forest you helped us revive was just the thing this place needed. Now it's true restoration can begin. I would have never though of doing something like that."

Ail looks at Shinki after she stopped speaking and noticed some resentment in her eyes.

He backs away a little and says "now that's not true. I only suggested the idea, after all. It was YOUR energy that did the trick, I just helped a little."

Shinki's eyes turn to Ail's filled with joy, then says "thank you so much for everything... and I'm sorry about Yumeko. That child of mine is too overprotective sometimes."

Ail smiles and says "that's all in the past now."

He smiles and then says "you knew how to get us back home from the very beginning, I see."

Shinki gasps and opens her eyes wide with surprise. She thinks of many things to say, but Ail's eyes were upon her's, and she knew he wouldn't buy into any lies.

She sighs and says "yeah. I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner, but-"

"it's alright. I'm sure after mentioning Reimu's name, even I would have my suspicions about the two outsiders."

Shinki giggles as Ail smiles back at her as he said that.

After Ail turns around and heads toward the sealed gate he says "I would be honored if you were to see us off. I'm sure Maribel would be too." then continues walking away.

Shinki looks at the forest they had revived the day before for a moment, then thinks "humans, gods and demons acting like equals... That's something we don't see every day. These two sure are special." and then walks toward the sealed gate to see Ail and Maribel off.

-

Mid-day at Gensokyo. Nitori's machine looked like a giant blue spider with an antenna on the top, and to it's left were the controls to it. Nitori was turning on the machine just as Reimu arrives with Iku, Orin standing next to her, watching how the machine worked with great curiosity. Sakuya, Eirin, Yorihime and Sanae were having idle conversation as they watched Iku position herself right under the machine. Renko was so anxious, she was pacing behind Nitori, so Kyo grabs her shoulder and smiles. Renko smiles back, calming down a bit, but could still feel her heart beating quite fast.

Yukari arrives just as Iku prepares to power up the machine.

"I'm ready when you are" shouts Iku.

Nitori puts on some dark goggles, and looking very serious, the flips her thumb up and pushes a button with her left hand. Iku spins in place, then suddenly stops, pointing upward with her finger, while holding her waist with her other arm, then suddenly, lightning strikes the antenna at the top of the machine. It started glowing gold after a little while and started to do an annoying whirring sound as it powered up. Nitori flips her thumb up again, signaling Iku to stop. Iku immediately gets out from under the machine and admires what she just did.

Reimu shouts so Yukari could hear her over the machine's noise.

"Yukari, now it's your turn."

Yukari shouts back "Reimu, are you sure this is safe?"

Reimu sighs and says "look, if you worry too much now, things will certainly go wrong. Don't worry, everything will be fine!"

At the same time at Makai, Ail and Maribel position themselves in front of the mountains, where the gate to Gensokyo once was. They look back to their new friends and wave, all of them waving back, Yumeko looking saddest of all.

Ail smiles and shouts "we promise, we will come and visit again."

Yumeko starts to sniffle and says "I'll miss you... you cute little kitty girl!"

Ail laughs then Yumeko adds with another sniffle "you too, Anilan!"

Ail and Maribel both turn to face the mountain, then Ail quietly says "let's do it. Maribel, I want you to power up, but don't shoot anything. Just hold my arm after you're done and think of Gensokyo and our friends."

Maribel nods and says "wait till' Renko sees me *giggle*"

Ail rolls his eyes and waits for Maribel, as she powers up.

-

At Gensokyo, Yukari had positioned herself right under the machine and was receiving so much power, she though she'd go mad with it, however, she managed to keep herself sane as soon as Ran and Chen arrived to watch.

After some time Yukari shouts "all aboard to Makai, first and ONLY call!"

Reimu smiles and stands in front of the mountain. Next to her were Kyo and Sakuya to the left, Sanae and Renko to the right, and behind were Marisa and Yuki. Yukari screams as she opens up the largest gap she's ever opened in her life. It was as tall and wide as the mountain itself. Nitori tweaks the machine, giving Yukari some relief from the surge of power.

"GET INSIDE!!! NOW!!!" shouts Nitori, and so they did.

Suddenly Yukari shouts "WAIT, NO! There's interference!!!" but it was too late and they were already in.

At Makai, at the very same time Yukari opened the gate, Ail and Maribel open up the other exit. They turn around once more and smile as they wave at their friends, then as soon as they get inside, the gate starts to send out large blue sparks. Shinki looks on surprised, as Yumeko and Luize despair and run toward the gate, but Sara stops them just in time, as the small gate Ail had opened grows in size, then from inside they could hear Ail's echoing scream "not aga~~in!!!"

Shinki sighs and says "oh dear."

-

Inside the tunnel, stars surrounded them, moving at high speeds along with Ail and Maribel. Ail realizes something was wrong and shouts, then they come across the party form Gensokyo.

"REI~~MU~~~!" shouts Ail as she passes by them.

She shouts back "Wait! I wanna kill you~!!!"

Soon after followed Yuki and Marisa, who shout "HI! BYE!" as they pass.

After them, Sakuya, who was holding Kyo, pass by too quickly, Ail unable to understand what Kyo just said.

He thinks "Kyo? What is he DOING HERE???"

Then was Sanae who was holding Renko. Maribel gets overexcited and extends her arms shouting "RENKO~~!"

Renko despairs as well and extends her arms toward Maribel's as well, shouting "Mary~! We found you!"

Just as they passed by each other, Maribel and Renko lock arms.

Sanae yelps and says "wait, that's dangerous!"

Ail slows down and tries to head back to them, but Sanae, Renko and Maribel were already heading his way, forming a giant human balls, spinning as they went through.

Ail watches as the human ball heads his way and says "figures..." then gets entangled in it, all screaming as they head toward the exit.

-

At Gensokyo's end, Yukari shouts "someone stop this~!"

The gate Yukari had opened was releasing golden sparks all around, striking Mima, who had taken the shock for Chen, then one of Ran's tails, which loses it's hair and sizzles. Eirin and Yorihime were already away from there, standing by the lake.

Ran and Chen manage to get away along with Orin, who was carrying Mima on her wheelbarrow, then Nitori shouts "Yukari, get out of there! It's gonna blow!!"

Yukari grits her teeth and manages to open a gap right under her, escaping the machine just as it blew up. Iku was holding her hands up in the air, trying to absorb as much as she could of the sparks that were headed toward Nitori and herself, then the machine explodes with such force, the the trees surrounding the area lost all their red leaves, and Ran, Chen, Mima, Nitori, Orin and Iku, were all sent flying back to the lake just behind the Hakurei Shrine.

After all settles down, Yukari opens her gap once more and stands right where she was moments before, and just stood there, staring. Soon, the others came back to check the damage.

Ran and Chen run to Yukari, happily shouting "Lady Yukari, you're alright!" but both quiet down as they reach her and stare the same direction as Yukari. Mima, who was still releasing some shocking golden sparks around her hair, Nitori, Orin and Iku all stare at the mountain, admiring the permanently open gate to Makai.

-

At Makai, Shinki was about to enter the gate, since it did not close. Yumeko and Mai were trying their best to stop her, but they all stop arguing when they all hear faint voices form inside the gate. All three run back as quickly as they could, when suddenly, Reimu, Sakuya and Kyo, and Yuki and Marisa all come crashing out of the gate,landing on top of Mai, and Yumeko.

Shinki has managed to avoid being crushed by the visitors by moving mere inches to her left.

She casually watches as Reimu gets up and surprised she says "Reimu Hakurei!? Is that you!?"

Reimu rubs her head for a moment then opens her eyes and realizes Shinki was right in front of her.

She springs up and shout "Shinki!?"

As for Sanae, Renko, Maribel and Ail, nobody knows where they ended up this time, as none came out of either exit of the large gate to the land of demons known as Makai.

-

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice

Ail, Kyo, Agava and Luna were created by Willie G.R

AUG 15 2009

written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

**NOTES:**

**What a DAY! Touhou 12 - Undefined Fantastic Object and 12.3 Unthinkable Natural Law are released, I finish this chapter and beat SWR (Scarlet Weather Rhapsody) arcade Lunatic mode twice (once with Reimu, and once with Youmu)!**

**I was hoping to add Kogasa and Nazrin to the tale before this day, however my muse escaped me for some time. No matter. Now I can add those two, and maybe the 6th boss of UFO too! Well... first we have to know more about her personality, right?**

**Hope you are enjoying reading these, and also:**

**Thank you very much for reading!  
**


	9. Chapter 8

Having finally managed to open a gate to Makai, Reimu, Sanae, Renko Marisa, Yuki, Kyo and Sakuya all go inside the high-speed gate and into Makai, however, at that very same moment, Ail learned how to open a gap back to Gensokyo, opening it where the sealed gate was. In doing so, both ends reacted in a violent manner, causing the permanent re-opening to Makai. Although some of the Gensokyo party arrived at Makai, Ail, Maribel, Sanae and Renko managed to get entangled in a mess of their own, but they never came out of either end of the gate.

-

At Makai, tension was high. Yumeko had her daggers at hand, glaring at Reimu while keeping her lady Shinki safely behind her. Beside them were Mai and Luize, who didn't want to fight, but were ready to defend Shinki with their lives if they had to. Sakuya and Marisa both stand by Reimu's side, waiting for anyone to make the first move, while Yuki just waves casually at Mai, shouting a casual "hi~!" but stays behind the girls from Gensokyo along with Kyo, who didn't have a clue about the situation.

Both Shinki and Reimu were the only ones there completely relaxed and ready to negotiate. Shinki places her hand on Yumeko's shoulder and says "relax, they're not here to fight." then looks at Luize and Mai, who gladly lower their defenses.

Yumeko, being so overprotective, wouldn't lower her guard. That's when Reimu grabs Marisa and Sakuya by their shoulder and says "calm down, you two. Lower your weapons, and Marisa, stop pointing that thing at them."

Marisa says "aww~! I though things were going to get fun!" as she places her Hakkero under her hat.

Sakuya elegantly puts her daggers away, then stands up straight, keeping an eye on Yumeko. Shinki pats Yumeko on the shoulder again and says "Yumeko, your turn, child."

Yumeko growls softly, but calms down and the daggers in her hand vanish into thin air. Reimu walks closer to them and extends her hand to Shinki. Shinki smiles and gladly accepts, bowing her head a little, accepting to shake Reimu's hand.

Yumeko takes a deep breath and says "you should be honored my lady accepted your peace gesture!"

Reimu sweats and was about to reply, but Shinki says to her in a reprehensible tone "Yumeko. Please, don't be rude to our guests. I am sure they came here looking for the two humans..."

Shinki turns her sight to Reimu's and smiles saying "...am I right?" Reimu lightly smiles back and nods.

-

After everyone calmed down, Yuki runs to Mai, jumps on her and gives her a big hug and saying "Mai~!!! I missed you, sis! Did you miss me!?"

Mai looked a little annoyed, and would not reply. Yuki lets go of her and starts to sob. Mai sighs and says "yeah... I missed you. A little..."

Yuki smiles widely and hugs her again, giggling. After letting her go again, Mai looks at Yuki and asks "and what's with that get-up?"

For a moment, Yuki looked confused, so Luize points at the apron and the pink bow.

Yuki looks at her self and says "ah, yes... well people out there were confusing me with THAT girl over there" then points at Marisa.

Marisa clenches her fist and waves it at Yuki shouting "HEY! You should be grateful others confused you with someone as beautiful as me!"

Reimu Scoffs, and Sakuya quietly giggles. Marisa turns to them and shouts "you're just jealous!!!"

Yuki takes a deep breath and continues "like I was saying, I had Alice make me this apron, but miss copy-cat over there copied my idea."

Marisa was getting angry, but Reimu grabbed her from behind, locking her arms in place so she couldn't pull out her Hakkero.

Yuki smiles and waves at Marisa, then says "so I placed this frilly ribbon on my hat, and that did the trick, apparently."

Shinki, after realizing what Yuki had said, she trembles a little and asks "Yuki? Did you say Alice? How is she?"

Yuki smiles and says "she's a little stuffy, but she's ok."

Reimu knew something was up with Shinki, but kept quiet about it, then releases Marisa, who immediately puffs her cheeks as she quietly grumbles and sits under a tree.

Yuki stretches her arms above her head and says "well now that I'm home, I won't be needing this..." she pulls off the frilly pink ribbon, revealing her old white one behind it "...or this!" she pulls out the apron with a loud ripping sound.

Everyone stares at her quietly, Yumeko looking angry.

Yuki looks back at them puzzled and asks "what!?" Sara laughs and points at Yuki.

Yuki looks at herself and realizes she had ripped her skirt off. With a "whoops" she covers her front.

Kyo, who was quiet all this time, was behind them, covering his eyes, shouting "did that idiot cover herself yet!?"

Yuki blushes beet red, then Marisa shouts "HEY~! Those are MY DRAWERS!!! What the hell are you doing with MY drawers!?"

Yuki shrugs and says "you and I wear the same size. Relax, I left mine back at your house. You can keep them!"

Marisa couldn't take it anymore. She gets on her broom and shouts "I'm gonna GET YOU!" as she started chasing Yuki.

Then Yuki starts flying away as fast as she could and crying "come on~! Those were my best pair, and I'm giving them to you!"

Yumeko slaps her forehead, grunting and saying "she's such a child."

-

Ignoring the skirt-less Yuki and the angry Marisa, Shinki and Reimu walk through the recently revived forest, talking about the situation.

"So they opened that gap at the same time we opened the gate? Well, it's now permanently reopened." says Reimu casually.

Shinki stops to admire one of the trees and says "yes. He just woke up this morning, shouting with excitement about going back home. You know, you have really wonderful friends there... although a bit strange."

Reimu lets out half a smile and says "you want to go and see Alice, I assume?"

Shinki turns to face Reimu in shock, thinking "how did she know?" then places her hands on her chest and says "yes... I'd like that, if it's..."

Reimu scratches the back of her head while saying "as long as you demons don't start invading Gensokyo again, you may come and visit."

Shinki was overwhelmed and hugged Reimu in an impulse. Reimu, of course, was surprised and blushing, she asks "hey... what's the deal here?"

Shinki backs away with a smile, blushing a little and saying "err... sorry, I don't know what came over me."

Reimu then sighs and says "well, I'm sure Ail and Maribel are back home waiting for us so... wait. I though Sanae and Renko were headed here along with us."

Shinki gasps and says "oh, right before you came in, we heard Ail shouting."

Reimu looks back and narrows her eyes and says "dammit... I hope they're alright."

-

Back at the gate, Yumeko and Sakuya were having a small conversation.

"So short skirts like that are mandatory to your mistress?" asks Yumeko.

Sakuya gracefully bows her head a little and says "I don't mind. It keeps me quite cool during summer. What about you? Such a long skirt must be torture during the hot summer days."

Yumeko smiles and says "not at all. Lady Shinki always keeps the temperatures here very comfortable, so we don't need to worry about climate changes."

Both maids giggle then turn their faces away from each other. Yumeko thinks "short skirts like that are a disgrace to refined women everywhere" while at the same time Sakuya thinks "long skirts only look good on old hags anyway!"

They turn to face each other again with a smile then Sakuya asks "clothes aside, my job is pretty tough. Having to clean, fix things, prepare meals, make sure everything runs smoothly... waking up the mistress during the evenings. It's really tiring, but I can stop time and finish everything in an instant, and I can even make the space inside the mansion change in size, so I guess it's a little easier on me that way."

Yumeko giggles and says "my what a surprise. I do the same thing, except my lady Shinki wakes herself up early in the morning, and she sometimes prepares her meals herself. She's the prefect lady."

Sakuya gets a bit annoyed and says "well, my Lady Remilia is kind and sweet and goes to bed early, and she even dresses herself... sometimes."

Yumeko smiles and says "my lady Shinki takes care of herself quite well, AND she's very polite and kind to others as well. She... she might not need me after all... *sob*"

Sakuya smirks and says "well my mistress depends on me a lot too, so... so you might say I have not time for myself, even though I can stop time around me... *sob*"

Both maids look at each other and try to smile at each other, but end up hugging each other and crying, Yumeko saying "My lady Shinki doesn't need me~!" and Sakuya shouting "My lady Remilia's going to be the end of me~!"

-

Kyo was sitting by the gate, grumbling angrily and thinking "after all this, he didn't need my help. I could have gone back for Luna, but no... I chose to help my friend, when he didn't NEED any help. This is just great!"

Just then, Sara walks close to him, then sits next to him and asks "why the long face?"

Kyo sighs and says "I think I made the wrong choice, but it's not like I can go back in time and fix it."

Sara gets a bit closer and says "I see. What choice was that?"

Kyo places his left hand under his cheek and rests his head on it and says "a choice between a friend or a... another friend."

Sara, sounding a little flirty now says "friends forgive friends, you know that? Just calm yourself down and you'll be fine."

Kyo realizes that by now, Sara's face was just inches away from his.

He blushes and springs up, then says "err... I better go find Reimu and ask her what to do now. Err.. see you, thanks for the advice. Bye."

Without realizing it, he flies away pretending to go look for Reimu. Sara swoons and smiles as Kyo flies away, but just then Luize comes from behind a large stone and says "I saw all that."

Sara gets the shock of her life, springing to her feet in a second, her face turning blue and stuttering "L-L-Luize.. umm... err, I was just... g-g-giving advice... that's all, heh heh!"

Luize smirks and says "of all the creatures you could get a crush on... you get on on that human. Well, he is hot!"

Sara recovers herself and glares at Luize after she finished her sentence, Luize glaring back.

Both chuckle then Sara says "don't even think about it. I have a better shot at him than you do, sister."

Luize replies "think again, young lady! I have a much better chance than you ever will."

Both stare at each other, sending sparks through their eyes that explode when they meet through mid-air.

-

Meanwhile, Marisa and Mai chase Yuki, who somehow managed to put her skirt back on while flying away from the other two.

"Come on, you guys! I am innocent, I tell you!" shouts Yuki.

Mai shouts back "just stop already!"

Marisa then says "I'm gonna get you!"

Yuki stops flying away, and very suddenly, she launches an arch of fireballs at Mai and Marisa. Both swerve, avoiding the fireballs, then continue chasing her. Marisa sniffs around and then notices Mai's hair was on fire.

"Hey... Mai, was it? You're hair's on fire" calmly said Marisa.

Mai complains "hey, have the decency to remember my name please... wait, what?"

Marisa points at her and once again, in a very calm tone she says "your hair's on fire."

Mai pats her hair and realizes the fire was spreading. She yelps and dives down to the lake below, screaming as she did. She she comes back up after just a few seconds, she had a fish biting her butt, and another on her foot. Marisa stops chasing Yuki to help out Mai, knocking the fish away.

"Thanks... I owe you one." says Mai, as she recovers from the shock.

Marisa smiles and says "no problem... but don't forget. You owe me one, ze."

Mai whimpers at the though of what she has possibly gotten herself into. From behind, Kyo comes flying by casually, having escaped Sara. Marisa stares at him for a while, which annoys Kyo.

"What!? Do I have something in my face?"

Marisa continues to stare, then Mai, sounding annoyed says "hey... what's the matter with you now?"

Marisa shakes her head a little then says "I didn't know you could fly!"

Kyo looks back at her suspiciously and says "fly? What are you talk-"

Suddenly Kyo realizes he's flying. He panics and grabs hold of Marisa's broom shouting "AAHH, don't let me fall!!!"

Mai calmly says "you two obviously never used a power amplifier, am I right?"

Kyo thinks for a moment "power amplifier?" then says "Oh yeah, the belt I won off Agava!"

Mai smiles and says "ahh, so you just got that, huh? Well I won't tell you how to use it, but I can tell you now that your power will increase beyond it's limitations, and by the looks of this one..." she inspects the amplifier more closely "...it's already been treated and filtered, so there won't be any side-effects."

Mai smile once more as she backs away, holding her arms behind her back and giggling.

Marisa then says "Kyo, you cheater... Can I borrow it?"

"NO" immediately responds Kyo.

Yuki gets closer to them and says "what, no more chasing?"

Marisa wraps her arm around Yuki's neck, knocks her hat off and starts pressing her fist on her head, twisting it as she did.

"This is for switching my drawers without asking!"

-

From the gate, Reimu's voice echoes "Marisa, Sakuya, Kyo!"

In just minutes, everyone gathers at the gate. Reimu looked concerned as she said "we have to go back, now!"

Marisa feels something was wrong with Reimu and asks "Reimu, did something happen?"

Reimu looks back at Marisa and says "Both Sanae and Renko never made it through, or didn't you notice?"

Marisa gasps and says "you think they got stuck in the gate!?"

Sakuya gets closer to Reimu and says "I see. You hope that's the case, don't you?"

Kyo shouts "what are we standing here for, let's go!"

Without thinking about it, Kyo flies inside the gate.

Reimu was very surprised and says "wait, did he just..."

"...fly" continued Marisa. "Yeah, I was as surprised as you. Now come on!" and with that, she enters the gate.

Sakuya sighs in a very disappointed fashion and says "so much for sight-seeing" then heads inside.

Just before Reimu goes inside, Shinki lightly pulls her by the shoulder and looks into her eyes.

Reimu says "fine~! You can go inside, but no more traveling agencies!"

Shinki smiles and says "thank you."

Reimu was just about to enter the gate when she turns her head and says "if you wait for a few days, me or someone of trust will get you to Alice's house, alright?" then she smiles and enters the gate.

Yumeko asks "Lady Shinki, you're going into Gensokyo?"

Shinki was smiling so much, it looked like her cheeks were about to expand as she said "we get to visit Alice!"

Yuki smirks and she places her hand on Mai's shoulder and says "now that we can go in and out of Gensokyo again, I got some wicked awesome things to show you!"

Mai sighs and tries to force a smile as she said "I can hardly wait."

-

When Reimu comes out the gate on Gensokyo's exit, she looks around, but fails to see Ail, Maribel, Sanae, or Renko.

Orin, looking as though she was about to cry, grabs Reimu's hands and asks "where is he!? Is he dead?"

Reimu closes her eyes and tries to think, then opens them again, and feeling confused and sad she replies "I truly don't know what happened to them this time."

Kyo was a bit angry, but he wouldn't show it. He hovers for a moment, then flies away saying "I'm gonna go look for Luna."

Sakuya bows, lifting her skirt a little as she did and says "I'm sorry, Reimu, but since I failed my mandate, I must report to my mistress immediately."

Reimu turns around and nods, then Sakuya leaves, heading back to the mansion. Nitori was too busy inspecting the reasons as to the machine's explosions to notice what was going on.

Mima gets close to Marisa and Reimu and says "it's not your fault. You did what you though was right."

Reimu lowers her head and closes her eyes while Marisa looks at Mima and says "but lady Mima, if we hadn't tried, they would be-"

Mima pats Marisa on the head and says "don't think like that child. You just wanted to help."

Arriving at the scene, Yorihime, Mystia and Eirin come with some cups of tea, offer them to Reimu, Marisa and Orin, who was pacing around with her wheelbarrow, then Eirin says

"perhaps we should head back to the shrine, calm down a bit, and think calmly for a moment."

Accepting the cup and immediately taking a gulp of tea, Reimu nods and says "yeah, let's go back."

Just then, a flash of light startles everyone at the site. All cover their eyes and try to see what was going on, but the light was too bright, so all they could do was wait for it to dim to see what was going on.

-

Waking up with his face on the ground, Ail groans and tries to get up, but feels heavier for some reason. He decides to stay on the ground a little longer. He looks to his right and sees Renko and Maribel, lying next to him with their eyes closed. He gasps and tries to get up, then realizes that Sanae was lying on top of him with her eyes close as well. He panics and gets up, managing to grab hold of Sanae by her shoulders before she fell down.

He shakes her a bit while saying "Sanae... Sanae, are you ok? Wake up!"

Sanae start to moan a little, then opens her eyes. "Where... what happened?"

Ail sighs with relief and says "I don't know. Let's wake up the others now."

When Sanae realizes Ail was holding her, her face turns red, but to her luck, it was too dark for Ail to notice.

She stands up as Ail asks "are you sure you're alright? Don't you need to sit down for a bit first?"

Sanae shakes her head and says "it's ok, I'll be just fine."

Ail turns to Maribel and Renko, shaking them a bit, saying "hey, are you guys alright? Wake up."

Renko and Maribel moan a little before waking up. Maribel immediately sits up and looks around. Everything was dark. The sky had only a few visible stars and there was no moon in sight. Purple, gray and black clouds covered most of the skies, there were no live trees, nor animals, and the only sound that could reach them was the sound of some distant wailing and the howling of the dead winds.

Just as Renko gets up, Maribel cries "where are we!? This place is so sad. Please, get us out of here mister Ail!"

Renko kneels beside her friend and says "shh, shh, it's alright Mary. Ail... err, any ideas?"

Ail and Sanae both look grim when Ail says "I can't use my gaps at all. Something's very wrong... this place feels familiar, but at the same time..."

Sanae adds "it's too dark here. Maybe we should wait for daytime before we start moving."

Renko looks up and says "that's odd..."

Maribel says "Renko? What's wrong?"

Renko looks confused at Maribel, then back at Ail and Sanae and says "well, from what little I can see of the stars... we're supposed to be on the top of the Youkai Mountain. To be more precise, on the lake at the Moriya shrine."

Sanae looks very confused and says "even in this darkness I can tell... this isn't my shrine, or anywhere near it."

Renko sighs and says "maybe I'm mistaken. But it's so strange. Even with those few stars in view, I am certain I can pick up our location."

Maribel hugs her friend and says "it's ok, Renko. We can all make mistakes. Miss Sanae is right though..." she lets go of Renko "... maybe we should wait for the sun to-"

Ail was pointing up above him and says "I'm afraid that it IS daytime. Look."

When the three girls look up, they see a brown rock out ins space, sending out very few sparks of fire and barely visible, where the few sparks wouldn't reach..

-

Ail looks seriously at the others and says "let's stay together and move on, now."

Renko despairs and says "but we can barely see. The only reason I can see YOU is because of that bright cloak of yours."

Sanae exclaims triumphantly and says "Ah~, I see. We'll use his cloak so we don't get separated."

Maribel giggles and says "it's a good thing you two are so smart!"

Renko gets shocked, then glooms down and says "she called me dumb. I'm a dummy!"

Maribel pats Renko on the back and says "please, calm down Renko. I didn't mean that. I'm sorry~!"

Holding hands with Sanae, Ail walks to Maribel and Renko and says "let's stay together now. Don't worry, I know we will find a way out of here... wherever here is."

Renko perks up almost immediately and says "alright. Let's go then."

Maribel cheers, wiggling her ears and says "yay~! Renko, you're happy again!"

As Renko grabs hold of Maribel's hand, who was holding Sanae's free hand, she asks "Mary...? What's with this tail..? And those ears!?"

-

After walking for what seemed like half and hour, the party of 4 arrive at an old abandoned building site. All that was left of the building were a few pieces of rotten lumber on the center of a stone court, a hole to the right side of the court, and a red column that looked as if it was part some something much bigger, however it was also decayed and looked like an old red stump.

"Where are we now?" asks Ail as they enter the stone courtyard.

Renko looks to the skies and says "this is so strange... we should be in the Human Village at Gensokyo by now."

Sanae looks around and says "this... place is very familiar."

Ail nods and says "yeah. Feels like I've been here before."

Renko and Maribel go and investigate the old building site as Ail and Sanae continue walking toward the large hole. When they stare down the shallow hole for a moment, they realize they were still holding hands. They look at each other, barely able to see each other.

Sanae giggles and gently pulls her hand away, saying "I think we'll be safe now." Ail nervously chuckles and says "y-yeah, you're right, heh heh."

As they investigate the hole and it's surroundings, Ail suddenly gasps and says "I... I know this place... but... NO! It can't BE!"

Sanae gets worried and places her hand on Ail's shoulder and shouts "what!? What is it!?"

Suddenly Maribel screams and starts to cry. Ail's eyes go blank for a moment, then turns around. Sanae and Ail both run toward Maribel and Renko and find Maribel kneeling on the ground, sobbing and crying uncontrollably, while Renko stands next to her, trying to comfort her.

Sanae gets closer and asks "what's wrong!? What- Oh no...!"

Ail walks closer and says "it seems... this is... or was, the Hakurei Shrine."

Ail is unable to hold it in and lets go if his tears as he says the shrine's name. Sanae was beyond fear as she spots one of Reimu's spell cards, stained in old dried up blood, lying on the ground beside half of one of her sleeves.

-

After managing to calm Maribel down, Renko pulls her friend up as Ail says "this... there's no mistake. We are at the Hakurei shrine... but I don't understand! Why is the shrine destroyed?"

Sanae adds "and why is everything so dark? Even the sun seems affected by this darkness."

Renko, while still holding Maribel up says "maybe... we're in another dimension."

Maribel sniffles and tries to speak "mi-mister Ail, m-maybe we d-did something wrong *sob*"

Ail thinks for a moment then looks up at the darkened sky and says "only one thing to do for now. Let's find someone... if there IS someone alive, and ask what happened here."

Maribel gulps and says "I can't see the barrier anymore."

Renko pats her on the head and says "well, without the Hakurei shrine, that's an obvious fact."

Maribel shouts "I don't like it! Ail, take us back! I'll shoot and you take us back!"

Maribel frees herself from Renko and shoots some small dim heart-like energies at Ail, who ducks down just in time, but this time, not even that helped. No gap opened up. Ail even tried forcing one open, but his energy reacted to Maribel's lingering energy and pushed him back with great force, crashing against an dead tree, tearing it to pieces as he did. Sanae runs to him, calling out his name. Ail rubs his head and groans as he gets up, then realizes that not only the decaying tree was destroyed, but the ground under him cracked.

"Are you alright?" asks Sanae, extending her hand to him and says "here, let me help you."

Ail smiles as he accepts Sanae's help. Their eyes must have settled to the darkness since they were able to see into each others eyes as Sanae helps him up. They blush when Ail thanks her, but the moment was cut short as the crack created by Ail's impact started to expand, then entire mountain started to tremble.

"What the?!" exclaims Ail.

Renko shouts "The mountain is collapsing! We need to get out of here!"

Without a second to waste, Maribel grabs Renko and starts flying, surprising her friend who asks in shock "Mary!!? You can fly!?"

Ail and Sanae lift off into the air just as the ground under them crumbles and collapses. In just a fraction of a minute, the entire mountain turns to pebbles on the ground. Maribel started to cry again, so Ail rushes to her and grabs Renko, so Maribel could stay up, however Sanae still grabbed her in case she fell.

With a cracking voice, Ail says "let's look for someone to explain all this." and so, using his light-blue cloak as a beacon, Sanae follows him, carrying Maribel who had completely succumbed to grief.

-

As they flew, they were able to make out many of Gensokyo's landmarks. The Human Village was reduced to a large crater on the ground. The Bamboo Forest of the Lost looked like an eerie graveyard, and the only remains of Entei was a piece of the gate that marked the entrance to the mansion. The Forest of Magic looked like a petrified forest.

Kourindou, Marisa, Alice and Ail's houses were gone from sight, and the Youkai Mountain, once so full of life, was dark and dead now. The waterfall had dried up, ending the river's life as well; the tengu were nowhere in sight, the kappa were also gone, but one thing caught their eyes... the only building in all Gensokyo that was still standing. The Moriya Shrine.

-

"Look, Ail! It's my shrine!" shouted Sanae.

Ail looks back at her and says "let's go see!"

They land and are immediately greeted by howling winds. The stone courtyard was a mess, some parts of the floors were broken or missing, the huge logs that once adorned the shrine were now reduced to small decaying stumps on the ground, but the shrine itself looks as it always had, except for one very large charm stuck on the door.

Sanae hesitantly gets closer and shouts "l-lady Yasaka!? Lady Moriya? Is anyone here!?"

Ail places his hand on her shoulder, then she turns around and says "I know... they may not even be here... but it doesn't hurt to hope, right?"

While Ail and Sanae head to the shrine, Renko stays behind with Maribel and watches the small patch of stars visible through the clouds. She studies them cautiously and realizes something. She gasps, startling Maribel.

"Renko, what is it!?" asks Maribel, sounding desperate.

Renko turns to her friend and says "it's not where... but when..."

Maribel gets very confused but Renko ignores her and shouts "Ail, it's not where, but when are we!!"

Ail turns around a bit and shouts back "what do you mean by that!?"

At that very moment, Sanae breaks the charm sealing the door and opens it. Inside, sitting next to the small table were the pale, ghostly shapes of Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya, glowing an eerie green light around them. Sanae lets out an "uh-oh" that catches Ail's attention, so he looks inside, spotting the ghostly figures.

Suwako and Kanako's ghosts turn their sights to Sanae and Ail and begin to wail in a sad tone, but the wailing was hurting Sanae and Ail's ears. The ghosts get up and spin in the air just before lunging toward Ail and Sanae. Both get really pale and immediately run away, both shouting "RU~N!"

Maribel and Renko look at them wondering what was going on, until the see the ghosts, flying right behind them. Maribel and Renko look at each other and scream "GHOSTS!" and start to run.

Ail grabs Maribel while Sanae grabs Renko and fly away as fast as they could, but Kanako and Suwako's ghosts continued to follow them.

-

They flew for a few minutes, still running away from the ghosts when Ail shouts "Sanae, let's get closer to the ground, by the dead trees!" as they fly above the dead Forest of Magic.

Sanae nods and follows Ail down, the ghosts following them closely. When they reach the trees, they swerved around to avoid crashing. The trees may have been dead, but they hoped they would still offer some cover. Ail hides behind one tree, Sanae doing the same at the tree adjacent to his. Both hold Maribel and Renko close, hoping the ghosts would just pass them by, however they didn't.

Ail peeks around, but doesn't see the ghosts anywhere. "I think we lost them" he calmly said.

Sanae sighs and both Maribel and Renko try to stand up straight, but were till to shaken by the whole ordeal to keep on their feet, so they kneel on the ground and Renko shouts "what the hell HAPPENED HERE!?"

Ail turns to Renko and asks "what did you mean when you said 'when, not where'?"

Renko was about to reply when the two godly ghosts materialize right behind Sanae and Ail, push them back, then get inside Renko and Maribel's bodies.

Both girls spring up, Renko shouting "get OUT of my BODY you-!" and Maribel whimpering "ooh, this is NOT good! I got a... eh-?"

Suddenly both stay quiet for moment, then close their eyes while still on their feet. Ail and Sanae get up shouting their friends names, when suddenly, Renko opens her eyes. They were glowing the same eerie green glow as the godly ghosts, then when Maribel opens hers, they too were glowing.

-

Ail shouts "Maribel, Renko!? You two ghosts better get out of there or I'll-!"

Suddenly, in Suwako's tone of voice, Maribel says "ugh... it feels weird being in a body again."

then Renko, in Kanako's tone of voice says "well at least we can speak to them!"

then Suwako adds "ahh, I STILL look younger than you, at least!"

Kanako shouts back "you're STILL and ancient froggy fossil, you short hag!"

Suwako gets annoyed and says "you wanna fight, you wrinkled snake!"

Sanae shouts "STOP THIS FIGHTING AT ONCE!!!"

Both girls look down to the ground in shame and say "we're sorry~!"

Ail was confused for a moment then says "wait... you possessed them so you could talk to us, am I right?"

Suwako says "yeah. Sorry we scared you like that, but seeing Sanae again, after all these long years... Sanae."

Kanako sniffles and says "but... you look as young as we remember you. How can that be?"

Both Ail and Sanae look really confused. Sanae gets closer and says "Lady Yasaka, what happened?"

Kanako and Suwako look at each other and say "you never returned" at the same time. Sanae was still confused, then Ail says "I think you better explain..."

-

"After you left to look for those humans in Makai, you never came back." said Kanako, sounding almost depressed.

Suwako smiles as the touches Sanae's face, saying "warm and kind, just like I remember."

Kanako clears her throat and says "as I was saying, when you didn't come back we got really worried, so we went into Makai ourselves, but we couldn't find you. After that, there was this knight in crystal armor terrorizing Gensokyo."

Suwako pats Kanako on the head and says "so we tried to help out, but we were too distraught over losing you, and eventually... we..."

Kanako sits down and said "we got really depressed, so we locked ourselves in the shrine, hoping to vanish any day, but something happened."

Ail waits for them to continue and says "did you cause all this?"

Kanako shakes her head and says "but we might as well have. We lost our minds instead of just our bodies and went in a rampage."

Suwako points up and says "but I somehow managed to come back to my senses and stopped Kanako, right before she killed Marisa, saving her, of course, then I asked Reimu to use whatever means she could to seal us inside the shrine, and very shortly after that..."

Kanako continues saying "after that there was a war here. Since we were locked up, we didn't know what was it all about. All I could make out was Agava's energies getting out of control once again, and then years and years of screams and deaths... then suddenly this silence. After that..."

Suwako continues "we don't know anything else. We don't even know how long has it been since then."

Sanae was crying when she asks "but-but... are you saying this is the future!?"

Kanako lowers her head and says "future. That word means nothing now, as you can plainly see."

Suwako then says "I see now... oops, we're overstaying our welcome."

Kanako shouts "Ail, that cloak, please, let us have it. We don't have much time. These bodies will be destroyed if we stay too long in them!"

Ail asks "My cloak?"

Suwako hurriedly says "yes, it has godly powers! Please let us have it so we can finally leave this place!"

Suddenly both goddesses leave the bodies and turn back to ghosts, wailing and flying around Ail. He pulls his cloak off and hands it to them. Both slip inside it and suddenly, in a big flash, they shoot to the skies, splitting the clouds apart, turning into a bright star.

-

Shortly after the goddesses disappear, the crystal on Ail's cloak falls from the skies, shinning white now. He looks at it as a tear falls form his cheek, then pockets it.

Maribel and Renko were staring toward Ail with a very sad look on them, then he turns around an looks at Sanae.

Her eyes were empty as she stared blankly forward, completely lost in her thoughts. Ail gets closer and gently asks "Sanae? Are you-?"

Sanae lunges at him and wraps her arms around his neck and started to cry "NO~! Lady Kanako! Lady Suwako! Why!?"

She continues to cry uncontrollably on Ail's chest, as Maribel and Renko kneel down, Renko grabbing hold of some dirt and opens her hand, watching as the dirt turns to ash and blows away.

-

Sanae fell asleep after a few hours, followed by Maribel. Ail had placed a barrier under them that acted just like a bed would.

"I never knew I could do that." said Ail as he continues to look around.

Renko gets close and says "so what should we do now?"

Ail turns to face her and says "well, we know we are in the future, but how far into the future? Kanako and Suwako couldn't tell us in time."

Renko looks up as the clouds cover up the bright start that was created by Kanako and Suwako just hours before and says "it could easily be a thousand years at least."

Ail looks at her curiously and asks "how can you tell?"

Renko looks at him and says "there's a theory that says the planet's axis moves very slowly, and it takes years and years before anyone can notice the change. Since the stars have changed their position so much, I can only assume the theory is correct, and that we are, indeed, a few thousand years into the future of this planet."

Ail smiles and says "you simply are amazing. Well we should get moving now."

Renko nods and then says "hey, Ail. I'm sorry."

Ail looks back at her curiously again then she says "I... that is, when you were lost in Makai with Maribel, I thought..."

Ail lowers his head and tries to cover the fury in his eyes and says "you're not the first one to think that about me. Apology accepted..."

Renko looked at him with concern so he tells her in a more casual tone "I mean it. It's ok."

Renko smiles, and Ail turns around to wake up the others.

He shakes Sanae by her shoulder saying "hey... sorry to wake you, but we have to get going."

Renko heads to Maribel and wakes her up as well.

Sanae sits by the edge of Ails soft bed-like barrier and says "why bother? Why even bother going back. Look at this place! Look at what happened to Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako!"

Maribel gets up saying "if this is the future of our home, I rather just stay here..."

Ail pulls Sanae up and calls off the barriers.

He places his hand on both girls' shoulders and says "listen to me. The future is never set in stone. This place... this is a POSSIBLE future. Sanae, you heard what Suwako and Kanako said. They turned that way because you were not there!"

Sanae lifts her sighs in realization of Ail's words.

Maribel asks "but what about the rest of Gensokyo?"

Ail smiles and says "Well... when we go back home, let's do our best to NEVER let this happen. Remember... the future is NEVER set in stone. Time goes many ways, and it will be up to us to make it go the way we want to... prevent this horrible future from ever becoming a reality."

Maribel started to tremble. For a moment, Ail though she was about to start crying, but she lifts her head up with determination in her eyes and says "then let's find a way back to OUR home, in OUR time. I want to make sure something like this never happens. Right?"

Renko smiles and pats Maribel on the head, then Ail says "well then, let's look for a way back then."

-

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava and Luna were created by Willie G.R.

AUG 20 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	10. Chapter 9

After realizing that Sanae and Renko were missing, Reimu called back the entire Makai search party and headed back into Gensokyo, and upon arriving back at Gensokyo she realizes that Sanae, Renko, Ail and Maribel were missing, and there wasn't a clue to point to their unknown destination. A bright light covers the area where the new gate to Makai opened, but nobody could see what was causing it.

Ail, Sanae, Renko and Maribel wake up in a dead dark world, where even the Sun was just a mere shadow. Soon they discovered they were actually inside Gensokyo, and after an unexpected meeting with the goddesses from the Moriya Shrine, they discovered they were in the future, however, how far into the future, they could only guess.

-

Flying above the crater that used to be former human village, Ail, Sanae, and Maribel, who held Renko in her arms while flying, were hoping to find something that will lead them back to their own time, however they decided to land on the crater that replaced the village to rest for a moment and think.

Ail pulls, from inside his pockets, a peach, and an apple and offers them to the girls. He looks at them and laughs, saying "don't worry, these one aren't cursed. I picked them myself, from that forest we revived at Makai."

He smiles as Sanae picks the fruits, and using her own gohei with incredible skill, she cuts them in four equal pieces each. Ail looks astonished at Sanae's skill with that gohei and says "I'm glad I'm on your side."

Sanae giggles and says "just a little trick I picked up from lady Kanako. Want a bite?"

She offers a piece of apple to him, but he waves his hand and says "please, don't mind me... I'm not hungry at all."

Maribel bites off a piece of peach, then says "mister Ail, that's the same thing you said to me in Makai when we were lost..."

Renko asks "what happened after?"

Maribel smiles and says "he collapsed out of exhaustion right in front of me and miss Sara."

Sanae looks at her in disbelief and says "you don't have to sound so cheerful about it."

Ail laughs and says "I'm serious. I don't know why, but I don't feel the need for food."

For a moment, the three girls stood quietly staring at him, then he gets a little agitated and says "just eat already..!"

The girls react by stepping back a little.

Ail bows his head and says "I'm sorry. Err, I just want to go home already, and I'm a little worried. The only place we haven't tried visiting is the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I don't know what we'll find in there, so I want you at your best, in case of anything."

Sanae kept staring at him with a piece of apple in her mouth, still unable to bite down as she looked worriedly at Ail.

Ail places his hands on her shoulder and says "I swear, I'm alright. Please, eat."

He backs away while smiling at them. All three felt better when he smiled for some reason, so they eat their fruit and immediately lift off, heading straight to the Scarlet Mansion.

-

Upon arriving at the mansion, the first thing they notice is half the mansion had collapsed, and the basement seems to have caved in. Ail signals the girls to wait as he opens the creaky door. He looks inside, but it was too dark to see, so she uses one of his barriers and turns it into a ball on his hand, generating enough light to see.

He signals the girls to head inside and says "stay on your guard and whatever happens don't get separated."

First thing they notice when they enter was the missing stairs to the second floor, and a great portion of the second floor itself was missing too. The carpets, floors and walls were stained in blood. Everything was covered in dust, and inside, the darkness seems to take over everything, including the four human's hearts.

Ail signals them to fly to the floor above, and silently, they all fly above, Maribel carrying Renko and landing softly on the aged carpeting. Immediately after landing, a door slowly creaks open. Ail extends his arm and hands Sanae the light orb he had made with his own energy.

He makes a smaller one and goes to explore a head after he whispers "I'll check it out. Follow when I signal."

Ail slowly approaches the door and peeks inside. He turns around and signals the others to follow, but right after that, a pair of red eyes tower above him accompanied by a loud hiss. Ail turns around, and receives a large blast straight at his face, sending him back to the first floor.

Sanae shouts "AIL!" and immediately follows him, Renko and Maribel behind her.

Sanae shakes Ail, who had fallen to the ground sitting unconscious, bleeding through a small cut on his forehead.

"Ail, please wake up!" shouts Sanae, but the towering red eyes were upon her.

She turns around and grabs her gohei, waves it and blows the dark figure away. She pulls out a spell card from her pocket on her skirt and shouts "Esoterica - Gray Thaumaturgy"

A pair of Star, one blue and one white, materialize, then split into 10 more, then they disperse, sending countless shot toward the dark figure, who simply shoots really large energy balls at the smaller shots, blasting them long before they reached, then continues to sent a barrage of those large shots at Sanae. Sanae quickly materializes two more stars, these one red in color and uses them to block the unfriendly fire.

-

Behind Sanae, Renko and Maribel try to wake up Ail.

"Come on, mister Ail, wake UP!" shouts Maribel, as Renko shakes him lightly and says "we need your help now!"

Ail groans and immediately places his hand on his forehead saying "augh... my head!"

Maribel desperately shouts "mister Ail! Miss Sanae needs you!"

Just then, an explosion rattles the ground, making Ail spring up in surprise. When he looks in front, Sanae was barely able to hold on for much longer.

He was about to attack when he suddenly starts shouting "only one creature is capable of such destruction with so little effort, am I right Flanny!?"

Sanae's spell card times out, but at that very moment the opposing fire stops completely, then a woman shouts "of all the NICKNAMES! Only one human would dare call me that with a smile in his face! Ail!"

Sanae looks with her eyes widely open at Ail and says "Ail? What's going on here!?"

The woman's voice says "I'm so sorry, I though you were more vampire hunters! And honestly, I really needed to restock on some supplies too."

Ail gets next to Sanae, then Maribel and Renko get closer too as the woman walks closer to them.

She was wearing a tattered long red cloth with an old rope as a belt. Her long blond hair was a little dirty, and her vampiric red eyes revealed great exhaustion.

She exclaims "Ail... big brother? It's really you!! How can this be!?"

Ail walks toward her and hugs her saying "Flandre, I'm so glad to see a familiar face at last!"

The other three girls looked a little confused, so Ail turns around and says "don't you recognize Flandre? Oh, that's right. You didn't, err, don't come here as often as I did, err, do."

Ail gets a good look at Flandre and says "wow, Flandre, you've grown up a lot, I see."

Flandre smiles and says "oh, it's been so long since I heard someone actually talk to me. Come, come. We have much to talk about."

Ail and Flandre start to fly to the second floor, but the other three girls were still in complete shock.

Flandre turns around and says "come, please, come. I promise, I'm not gonna hurt you." then continues to the next floor.

Sanae gulps and says "come on... Might as well follow them."

-

On the second floor, Flandre had turned one of the guest rooms into a small dinning room. From that room forward, the rest of the mansion was well lit and clean, although it was still going through decay and looked as though it would soon collapse.

Flandre sits on the main chair of the long table and says "I'm so sorry I can't offer anything to eat or drink."

Ail says "it's ok Flandre. Please, can you tell us what happened here? Why is Gensokyo in this state? What caused this destruction!? And how come you look so much older than I remember you!?"

Flandre looks back at him with half a smile and says "if you weren't so cute, I'd throttle you."

Ail suddenly realizes what he said. He sweats and bows his head, saying "ah... sorry I wasn't thinking!"

Flandre giggles and says "that's ok. As for your questions... I have one of my own. How are you even alive at all? You even look as young as they day you disappeared! All of you!"

Renko breaks her silence and says "we manage to somehow travel through time when we went through the gate to Makai and ended up here, in what we could call... our future."

Ail was surprised that Renko answered so quickly, but just turns to Flandre and nods.

Flandre then says "I see. So Patchy was right after all."

They all look at Flandre a bit puzzled, so Flandre says "yes. From what I could understand, mixing the three energies at the same time, DURING the opening of the gate, caused a distortion inside the gate itself, sending you through time itself. Patchy used really complicated words, so I didn't understand much."

Ail thinks for a moment then says "meaning that without Yukari... we are stuck her after all."

He gets really depressed along with the others. Sanae tried to say something, but quickly closed her mouth and kept quiet.

Flandre kept looking at all of them, tangles her fingers between each other in front of her face and says "now I didn't say that, did I?"

They lift their heads to look at Flandre as she says "you must first know, it's been exactly 3245 years since you disappeared. Reimu and Marisa blamed themselves for trying to help you, and things were never the same."

Ail gasps, then Renko says in surprise "3000 years!? But... that's impossible! The stars, they haven't even moved THAT much! Even some buildings... if it really was that long, nothing would even be-"

"This entire planet hasn't moved an inch for two thousand years." interrupted Flandre. She smiles and says "let me tell you the story..."

-

"When you disappeared like that, Reimu and Marisa got really depressed, and blamed themselves for this. Their spirits were broken, and things only got from bad to worse, all in one single day."

Flandre stretches her arms in front of her, making some loud cracking noises as she did, then continues.

"That day, a creature in an armor made of crystal, appeared right on front of Reimu and the others. The woman from the moon tried to fight him, but the knight blasted her in an instant, enraging the nurse. She fought the knight for hours until Marisa and Reimu snapped out of their depression and were able to seal him. However the seal wasn't prefect, but nobody knew until it was too late. That knight came back about a month after, with an entire army or ghouls and demons, all in crystal armors as well.

They were tough, but Reimu, Marisa and the goddesses from the second mountain shrine fought them off with ease, however those creatures had weakened the barrier around Gensokyo, and the two goddesses, for no apparent reason, locked themselves inside their shrine, only to come out just days later, attacking everyone and everything that moved. They killed half of the human villagers, and they almost got Marisa too, but somehow Marisa was spared, and Reimu sealed the two goddesses away in their own shrine. But that was just the beginning."

Flandre looks at the others and ask "understanding so far?"

They all nod, Maribel wiping the tears off her eyes and asking "how can all of that happen so quickly?"

Flandre smiles and says "I once heard Patchy saying 'It takes one pebble to bring down a whole mountain.' I didn't understand what she meant back then, but now I do."

Ail, looking very glum says "what happened next?"

Flandre smiles again and says "this... is when things get interesting..."

-

"Everything seemed to have settled down and we had peace for about three months. After that, some humans from the outside world started entering through the barrier, but not even Reimu would notice. She and Marisa became very bitter, and were always flying around, preventing anyone or anything from causing trouble... they even went as far as killing or sealing anyone that would repeat an offense.

So, by the time anyone noticed the barrier had been breached, it was too late. Humans from the outside brought science and religion into Gensokyo, and were hunting youkai down like ANIMALS!!! Calling us DEMONS and MONSTERS! Some would even torture their victims long before they killed them... it was terrible!"

Flandre started to cry so Ail says "Flandre, it's alright... you can stop if you-" but Flandre raises her hand and says "NO! I promised the ice fairy. She said it was important you knew what happened!"

Ail opens his eyes wide and says "the ice fairy? You mean Cirno? Sh-she's alive!?"

Flandre wipes her tears and says "like I was saying, those monstrous humans destroyed youkai everywhere. They even managed to kill Yuka, the flower youkai, with a horrible weapon they called 'gun'. The rest of us that were still alive tried to fight back, forming a small army to stop the humans, but it was useless. Their science was far beyond our own magic.

After that, Reimu tried to use a very strange spell card, in order to wipe out all the intruding humans, but that gap youkai, Yukari, grabbed Reimu and disappeared with her. We suspected they went into Makai, but the gate was sealed off again that very same day.

Marisa went insane when Reimu left like that. She was blasting all humans in sight, and Agava... that monster."

Ail and Sanae both perk up when they hear Agava'a name in the story. Sanae asks "what about Agava?"

Again, Flandre smiles and says "I was just getting to that."

-

Flandre starts clawing the table as she spoke "Agava used Marisa's grief and used her to kill all the humans inside Gensokyo, then she somehow regained her full power and she and Marisa went outside of Gensokyo and started destroying the large stone villages of the humans outside. Kyo and his friend, Luna, tried their best to stop them, but they all disappeared... all but Agava."

Ail looks at Flandre directly and asks "Kyo? Kyo tried to stop them?"

Flandre nods and continues "but they disappeared shortly after leaving Gensokyo, along with Marisa. Agava was the only one that was left, and right after killing the last human, the encased the whole planet in shadow and claimed it as her own. After that, the planet's yamas all banded together and brought down Agava, about two thousand years ago. Around the time the planet stopped moving and the Sun fizzled out."

Flandre stops talking and quietly sobs. Ail asks "Flandre... why are you telling us all of this?"

Flandre lifts her head and says "because the ice fairy said I had to!"

Ail was surprised then asks "so... did Sakuya and the others die during that war with the humans?"

Flandre gasps and says "I... before I tell you anything, promise you'll save onee-sama!"

Ail gasps and asks "Remilia's alive too!?"

Flandre shouts "PROMISE!!!"

All jump on their chairs, then Ail nods slowly and says "er, yeah, I promise."

Maribel looks at Flandre and says "please miss Flandre, you should wait a moment before telling us more. You look like you're going to explode."

Flandre smiles at Maribel and says "that's so kind... You remind me of Mei-"

Flandre lowers her head and says "this is what happened here..."

-

"Shortly after the religious groups entered Gensokyo, groups of human warriors created a monster hunting guild. A bunch of murderers, cutting the heads off our friends and displaying them on walls, like trophies! I HATE THEM!!!"

Ail looks at Flandre with great concern and places his hand on hers. She clings on to his hand and says "I'm sorry. I'll just go on."

Ail looks at Flandre with great concern, but allows her to continue.

"Those monsters came here more than once. Sakuya fought them off every day, but she was getting exhausted but she never told us! We could have helped her more, but she just kept fighting them off on her own until she reached her limit, and one of those horrible hunters killed her slowly... she screamed so much... onee-sama had just finished dealing with their leader when she was able to get to Sakuya, but it was too late. She has lost so much blood. Sis tried turning her into a vampire, but it was just too late. Remi had her body buried under Me-.. Meiling's flower patch. She was never the same after that!"

By now, Flandre was crying uncontrollably.

She sniffled and gulped then says "don't stop me! You have to know! Two years after that, The entire guild game here after having killed almost all the other youkai out there, so Patchy came up with a plan to stop them, luring them to the basement, while Remi and I hid on the clock tower. All I remember was a rumble and a loud explosion. When everything quieted down we came down and found out the basement had collapsed, and everyone inside was dead. Even Patchy, and Koakuma... and the maids..!

After that, Reimu disappears like that, and my sister completely lost her mind! All she does now is spend every day inside her room... talking to herself. She thinks Sakuya and the others are still alive in there..."

Ail was still holding on to Flandre's hand and asks "what about... Meiling?"

Flandre grips Ail's hand tightly. He tried to free himself desperately, but her grip was too strong. He started making noises with his mouth, hoping Flandre would let him go.

Unconsciously, she lets him go and says "please... don't hate me. Please"

Ail was huffing his hand, so Maribel answers for him "don't worry. Mister Ail can't hate anyone, right?"

Ail shakes his hand, and with some tears of pain, he nods and says a pathetic "yeah."

-

Flandre lowers her head and says "A few days after Reimu sealed that knight for the first time, I let Agava inside. She said she wanted to play, and I was bored, so I let her in... What a fool I was.

She went into Patchouli's library when Patchouli went to have dinner and tricked me into reading a strange book. I don't remember what happened after that, but Sakuya told me my eyes turned purple and I started blasting everything for not good reason. I escaped the mansion and headed straight to the Human Village. Meiling was waiting for me there. She tried to talk me out of it, she tried very hard to stop me, but I-"

Flandre started to cry again and shouts "I didn't mean to~!"

Ail jumps up from his seat and shouts "Flandre, it's ok, you don't have to say it! Just calm down!"

Flandre bangs hard on the table and shouts back "I promised the ice fairy! ...I-I bit Meiling's neck off!!!"

Everyone at the table kept very quiet and only looked down as Flandre continued to cry and saying "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to!"

Ail pats Flandre on the back to comfort her.

After a few minutes, Flandre calms down and says "nobody told me this, but I have a vague memory of Meiling struggling with me, telling how much she loved me and then... that silence. I used to 'break' things and others and didn't even look back once, but when I saw Meiling like that..." again, silence inside the room.

A sudden wind howl turns off the few candles lighting the small dinning room, so Ail creates another barrier to generate light.

Flandre gets up and says "It's almost time. Ail, please keep your promise and save my sister!"

Ail nods and says "I'll do everything in my power to save Remilia. Take me to her."

-

They head to Remilia's room. It was locked with many different locks and a seal, made with Flandre's own blood.

As she opened the locks Flandre says "I never though I would be doing THIS for my own sister. It's a horrible feeling, but I had no choice."

Ail pats her on the shoulder, then Sanae pates her back. Flandre closes her eyes and says "I'm so grateful... that I was able to be with others that cared for me one more time." then she suddenly opens the door.

Inside the dimly lit room they see torn curtains, ripped carpeting, blood splattered all around the walls, portraits ripped open with claw marks on them, and on the floor, muttering nonsense and the names of Sakuya, Meiling, Patchouli and Reimu, was Remilia, wearing a dirty pink rag over her grown-up body. Her wings had holes on them, her hair was dirtied with old bloodstains, and when she turned around, her eyes were glowing scarlet, and her face looked twisted and perverse.

She hissed at the door, then crouches next to some dolls she had made to look like Sakuya and Meiling.

She says "Sa-Sakuya, there's an intruder... get him... get them all! Meiling, you stupid gate guard, why did you let them in-!? Shh, shh, don't cry Meiling, I'm sorry. You know I love you too. You just have to do a better job now. Patchy... get Meiling a spell to make her more alert!"

Ail looks at the scene with grimace. He hands Flandre the light orb and says "whatever happens, don't come inside."

-

Ail walks slowly toward Remilia and softly says "Remilia? Remilia Scarlet? It's me. It's Ail. You remember me?"

Remilia cackles then starts to cry, hugging herself tightly, then shouts and says "SAKUYA~~! Get this monster AWAY FROM ME~~!"

She throws the Sakuya doll at Ail, which just bounces off his chest and falls on the ground, breaking to pieces.

Remilia crawls away from Ail, breathing heavily and shouting "NO! Sakuya! Meiling, GET HIM! AVENGE SAKUYA!"

She throws the Meiling doll, but it misses and crashes against a wall, shattering to pieces and falling to the ground. Remilia starts to hyper-ventilate and tries to crawl away, but only manages to corners herself. Ail slowly gets closer and extends his hand to her. She screams and calls for help, then swipes her claws at him, cutting the very tip of his finger.

Ail backs away a little then says "is this it? This is Remilia Scarlet, the most powerful, charismatic vampire in the world? PATHETIC!"

Remilia shivers as she slowly turns her face to Ail, but stops before facing him directly, only looking at him from the corner of her eye.

Ail scoffs and says "so WEAK! And here I though you'd always be that charismatic being that would one day lead the world through to prosperity or death, but now LOOK AT YOU!"

Remilia mumbles as she turns her face a little more.

Ail shouts "what was that! I can't HEAR you over all that shivering! BAH! How pathetic. You turn to a sniveling coward that can't even keep her OWN sister some company? Why am I even wasting my TIME with you, you pathetic excuse of a living creature!"

Flandre runs inside and punches Ail straight on the face and shouts "how can you be so MEAN!?"

and from the doorway, Sanae adds "Ail, I'm so disappointed in you. I never knew you were this mean!"

Remilia was looking straight forward now and spots her sister's eye.

Flandre looks back and asks "onee-sama? Are you ok?"

Suddenly, Remilia sees the ghostly figures of Sakuya, Meiling and Patchouli, all staring sadly at her.

Sakuya says "my lady, I am so sorry to have caused you so much grief"

Meiling sadly says "I failed you, my lady. Please forgive me!"

Patchouli says "I sacrifice myself in order to save YOU, and this is how you repay me?"

Remilia suddenly shouts "NO! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! I just missed you all so much!"

The ghosts continue to look at her sadly, then Remilia scowls and says "I command you to SMILE AT ME! I already apologized to you and I'm gong to show you, I CAN and WILL fix this mansion. NO! I'll build a BETTER MANSION. You'll see the power of CHARISMA that only I posses!"

The three ghosts smile and say at the same time "we'll be with you forever, my lady! Let's build the new mansion immediately!" then they vanish, revealing Flandre behind them, looking at her sister with concern.

-

Ail smiles as he gets up and says "welcome back, lady Remilia."

Flandre turns around and says "what are you talking about!? Are you making fun of my sister now, you-!"

"Flandre!" said Remilia in a commanding voice.

Flandre turns around with great surprise and asks "Remilia? Onee-sama, is that you?"

Smiling, Remilia says "I'm sorry sis. It seems I worried you a lot, but I'm ok now."

Flandre start to cry again, then Remilia opens her arms, welcoming her sister to a much needed hug.

Ail goes to the door and mockingly says "all she needed was a kick in the butt and a good ghost story to see the world in front of her eyes."

Maribel cheers and hugs Ail saying "I KNEW IT! You wouldn't be so cruel and mean unless there was a reason!"

Sanae lowers her sight and says "I-I'm sorry, I though you were..."

Ail smiles and says "don't worry... I though the same thing too."

-

Outside the mansion, the two vampires and the four humans stand just beyond the gate of the Scarlet Devil mansion. Remilia and Flandre charge up a colossal ball of energy together, then send it straight at the mansion, turning it into ashes, then they turn around and Flandre says "and now, we move forward to our next destination, right sis?"

Remilia smiles and says "let's. And let's also make our next mansion BIGGER. Let's show them all our greatness, dear sister."

Even in the darkness, seeing the two vampire sisters happy and together again brought much joy to the four humans.

Flandre points toward the dried up Misty Lake and says "come with us. The ice fairy is waiting for you."

All four look at Flandre and wonder what she meant, but regardless, they follow the vampires as they walk forward, into the empty lake. Ail was about to grab hold of them, but they disappear just as they set foot into the hole that is now the lake. Ail and the others look at each other with surprise, but without hesitation, they follow.

When they cross the invisible door they find themselves in a very familiar lake, where there was still water, live trees and animals, sunlight, as bright as they remembered Gensokyo, and to their right, the two vampires, standing directly under the sunlight.

Ail gasps and says "WAIT, won't you guys die!?"

Both giggle as they start to vanish. Ail and Sanae gasp, while Maribel and Renko shout.

Flandre says "don't worry, we'll be just fine. The ice fairy has allowed us into the new world she created. You must go and meet her now. And please, remember everything I told you."

Just as they vanish, Remilia says "Ail, thank you very much for bringing me back to my sister."

Her voice echoes as they disappear. For some reason, seeing them vanish like that made Ail and the others cry.

He wipes the tears off and forces a smile saying "come on. Let's find Cir- I mean, the Ice Fairy."

Sanae looks at him puzzled, but quietly follows.

-

They walk close to the lake's shore and right in front of them, an icy mist forms in the shape of a woman. Slowly, the mist solidifies, revealing a tall and beautiful ice fairy.

She had long light blue wavy hair and wore a beautiful blue dress with a light-blue sash around her waist that she also tangled around her arms and her ice wings looked like 6 beautifully polished icicles.

She extends her arms and says "Welcome, to the ethereal realm of Gensokyo."

Ail adjusts his eyes then exclaims "Cirno!? Is that really you?"

The ice fairy giggles and says "yes, it's me, Ail. Please, don't grieve for your friends. Right now, they are in a new world I made to be just like Gensokyo. They're already convincing the others to build them a castle I see."

Ail shakes his head in disbelief and says "y-you can see all that from here?"

Cirno smiles and says "I hope you all remember what you have seen and heard here today. It is important that you do, so you can prevent all of these terrible things form happening."

Renko shouts "wait a minute! If you're so powerful that you created your own world, why didn't you restore this world!?"

Cirno frowns and says "even with these powers of mine, I cannot revive something that is dead."

Renko gasps and bows her head saying "I-I'm sorry, I said something terrible.. sorry!"

Cirno smiles again and says "it's alright. I would have asked the same question, would I be in your position."

Ail tries to hide behind the others, but Cirno says "Ail, we have to talk about one more thing before I leave this place."

Ail starts sweating and hesitantly, he steps forward.

-

Cirno smiles at him and shows him a spell card.

Ail looks at it and gasps, then says "Cirno... that's..."

Cirno's smile vanishes when she says "I found this many years ago at your house. When Rinnosuke and Reimu saw this, they got very upset and tried to destroy it, however they couldn't. I did not understand why, at first, but now I do. Ail, this spell card you created breaks all the rules Reimu implemented!"

Ail says "I know... it was an accident. They day I created it... So many things happened, and it just sort of materialized in my hand."

Cirno reprehensibly asks "and did you use it?"

Ail quietly nods. Cirno then says "let's not keep the others in the dark. You three, do you know what I have here?"

Sanae says "that's the spell card that made Reimu really mad!"

Maribel adds "I remember that. Ail crashed to the ground really hard right after using it!"

Renko only looked on and asked "what about it?"

Cirno says "this spell card is a very powerful one."

Ail continues for Cirno, explaining the spell card "It's called 'Light Sign - Within the Jewel's Core'. It makes the user invulnerable to all attacks and unleashes enough energy to power up one-hundred suns, but at a great price."

Cirno then says "It uses the life-force of the caster."

Renko then says "but if that's the case, shouldn't Ail be-?"

Ail nods and says "dead. I don't even remember creating this spell card. It just came to me in very desperate hour, so I unknowingly used it and..."

Sanae then says "don't tell me you're-"

From behind Cirno, SikiEiki says "no, he's not completely dead. Like Youmu Konpaku, Ail is half human, and half ghost now."

Cirno smiles as she turns to Siki and says "just one second, I want to tell them."

Siki nods then Cirno says "Right before she disappeared, Reimu was going to use this spell card to rid Genskyo of all the intruding humans from the outside, but the gap youkai, Yukari Yakumo, came from behind, pulled her inside one of her gaps and disappeared with her into Makai, sealing the gate in the process. After that, the card came to me, but it was different, so I used it to create the new world in which your two vampire friends now reside and it didn't take my life, to my surprise."

Ail was left in awe, his mouth open as he heard the whole story.

Sanae walks next to him and says "Ail? Are you alright?"

-

Siki says "Lady Cirno, please. It's time you went in."

Cirno smiles and bows. She turns again into mist, then disappears, leaving Siki and the four humans behind.

Siki gets close to Ail and asks "Ail? What did I specifically tell you when I sent you back?"

Ail bows his head, closing his eyes and says "to keep that card hidden from all until AFTER I became whole again."

Siki glares at him and asks "and did you?"

Ail sighs and says "no"

then Siki uses her sword, bangs him hard on the top of his head and says "repent!" then backs away a little.

Sanae kneels beside him as he rubbed his head in pain, saying "now I know how Komachi feels... it's horrible!"

Sanae pats him lightly on the head and says "hey, why did you hit him like that?"

Siki glares at her and says "he broke a promise to me. He should be thankful that's ALL I did."

Ail sits up straight and asks "Siki, why did the goddesses, Flandre and Cirno tell us all that?"

Siki says "Isn't it obvious, you meddling time-travelers?"

Ail chuckles and says "right, that was a stupid question from my part."

Siki glares at all four and says "I'm timeless, so when you go back, I want you ALL to report back to me at the Sanzu River, understand!? No Excuses!"

Maribel asks "go back? You mean you can take us back home!?"

Siki nods, and just like that, all 5 find themselves inside a tube-like vortex as Siki speaks.

"You came to a terrible future, you heard the tales, you know what's going to happen. ALL OF YOU, I send you back to your own time-line, but YOU have to promise me that you will prevent this world from ever reaching such a dark and pitiful end. Did I make myself clear!?"

All four nod and say "YES!" at the same time.

Siki says "good. Remember, I want you at the Sanzu river after you're back to your own time."

Siki starts to vanish as she says "and Ail, bring Reimu with you. We need to talk."

Ail gulps, then gets up with Sanae's help, then both walk toward Renko and Maribel. All kneel down as the vortex continues to twirl around them.

Ail looks at Sanae, then Renko, then Maribel and says "you heard the yama. All four of us have a very important mission."

Maribel smiles and says "so let's make sure we complete it with lots of golden medals, so we can get a perfect, bright future."

Renko chuckles and says "I don't know how much help I can be, I'm just a weak human, after all. But that shouldn't stop me from trying, right?"

Maribel giggles as her ears twitch and her tail sways while she hugs her friend tightly.

Sanae looks at Ail and says "maybe together we can accomplish something even better than 'perfect'. Right Ail?"

Ail smiles and nods, then Sanae gets mad and says "and I want a FULL explanation about that spell card, understood mister!?"

Ail shivers and salutes Sanae, saying "y-yes m-ma'am"

Suddenly, Siki's voice says "welcome back home! Don't forget your promises!"

Suddenly, the vortex vanishes, and all four start falling, screaming at the top of their lungs, straight at an ocean of warm light.

-

Back at Gensokyo's present, Reimu adjusts her eyes to looks at the bright light that had appeared right in front of them just moments ago.

When the light vanishes again, everyone there spot a knight in a crystal colored armor, laughing and saying "now, this world will be MINE!"

Reimu pulls out some charms and her gohei, but before she did anything else, another bright flash blinds all, then they hear four loud screams, and a grunt from the knight.

Reimu looks again, then exclaim "Ail, Sanae, Renko, Maribel!?"

The four humans had fallen on top of the knight and all rub their heads and groan for a moment, then Ail says "it's the knight, GET HIM!!!"

All four get up and piece by piece, they pull the knight's armor off whiles screaming angrily at him, revealing a shaggy-looking man with a bag over his head and a wimpy voice, trembling and saying "is it getting cold in here!?"

Ail shouts "YUKARI!"

Yukari opens a gap right above the shaggy man, then Ail, Sanae, Renko and Maribel kick him at the same time, sending him inside the gap by force. Reimu, Marisa, Mima, Orin, Yorihime, Eirin, Mystia and Nitori all looks at the four humans in awe. They notice this, so they all raise their hands and say "hey" at the same time.

Suddenly all, but Yorihime and Eirin, surround the four humans, giving them a big hug and celebrating their return home.

After the hugs and greetings were done, Reimu grabs Ail by the ear and says "you and I need to have a SEROUS TALK, mister!"

Ail whimpers then gasps and says "WAIT, Reimu we have to go to the Sanzu River right now!"

Reimu shouts "oh, no, you're not escaping me that easy!"

Sanae then says "but you have to come too. The girl with the golden sword said so!"

Maribel then adds "hurry, or the world will die!"

Reimu shouts "WHAT!? What are you all talking about!"

Before she got her answers, Ail grabs her by her arms and says "we'll explain on the way!" then Maribel grabs Renko and flies along Ail, then Sanae says "please, wait for us, ok?" then lifts off into the air.

Marisa gets a little mad then says "like HELL I will" and gets on her broom.

Mima passes her hand by the broom, making Marisa fall down.

When Marisa gets up growling and shouting "what was that for, ZE!"

Mima calmly says "respect their wishes. Let's head to the shrine."

She pats Marisa on the head and walks toward the shrine. Yukari gets into her gap, then Orin, Nitori, Mystia, Yorihime and Eirin all walk behind Mima.

Marisa holds her hat down and says "fine, but I hope to get a full explanation after all of this!" then runs to catch up to the others.

-

From the gate of Makai, Yuki and Mai enter to Gensokyo. They notice the others leaving so they quietly hide behind some trees.

After the others were out of sight, Yuki chuckles and says "this is gonna be fun. Let's go Mai. You'll LOVE messing with Alice, I promise!"

Mai sighs and says "whatever. Just don't cause too much trouble."

Yuki wraps her arm around Mai's neck and says "don't be so mean. Besides, I'm a perfect lady. I would never cause any trouble."

Mai then says "good. I wouldn't want Lady Shinki to find out we came here without permission and make her mad at us."

Yuki giggles and says "aww, you worry too much."

-

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and the "Light Sign - Within the Jewel's Core" spell card were created by Willie G.R. (any similarities are strictly coincidental)

AUG 21 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	11. Chapter 10

After their terrible experience in the world's future, Ail, Sanae, Maribel and Renko finally return home, dealing with the crystal knight the second they came through the time gate. Reimu and the others are filled with joy after seeing their friends back at last, however celebrations had to be cut short since SikiEiki Yamaxanadu made them promise they would report to her by the Sanzu River once they got back.

At the Sanzu River, Ail and Siki had explained everything to Reimu. About the four human's visit to the dark future, the possibilities of that future coming true, and the events that they had to stop.

"One more thing" shouts Reimu.

She pulls Ail's spell card from her pocket and shouts "THIS!"

Ail stutters saying "err, w-well you see, i-it's a long story and-"

Bbefore he could explain, Reimu kicks him upward to hard, he's sent spinning in the air, then lands on his face. Beside Siki, a really large spirit that looked like Youmu's but with a longer tail, twirls around, as if in pain.

Siki says "this is Ail's ghost half, as you can see. After he used that card and died, we made a deal, so I'm keeping this ghost until the deal is complete."

Reimu kneels down and says "no point in my asking what that deal was?"

Siki lightly shakes her head then says "all I can say is, he'll be needing all of your help to regain this part of him."

Ail gets up a little dizzy and says "Siki, just like you said... I've been changing my mood very suddenly, and sometimes I don't even need food or water and, sometimes... I'm getting the urge to do terrible things."

Siki smiles and says "you are missing half of yourself. You are unconsciously trying to fill that void inside of you. Just keep true to your heart. It's all the advice I can give you now."

Sanae says "I know this is important and all, but we have one task at hand... that little blond vampire."

Maribel and Renko listen quietly as Siki speaks.

"Alright, I'll help you, but ONLY this time, understood? First of all, Ail, Reimu, I believe you two understand certain events MUST occur."

Ail and Reimu nod, then Siki nods back saying "good. You HAVE to let Agava do what she wants to. All I want you to do here is prevent the untimely death of that youkai."

Ail says "that sounds easy enough, however what about the other events? Since we stopped the crystal knight-"

Siki raises her sword and says "at this very moment, there is a small creature picking up the armor, and will use it to try and cause chaos. She's very determined to do this, however she also fears what this might lead to. Reimu, this particular task belongs to you. Renko and Maribel, I want you two to keep a close eye on the barrier at all times, and assist Ail and Reimu whenever you can."

Renko and Maribel nod at the same time, Maribel flipping her ears as a light wind passes by.

-

Sanae looks at Siki for a moment then asks "miss SikiEiki? What about me?"

Siki places her sword in front of her mouth, covering her smile as she says "your task will be simple. You will make sure everything goes well for a bright future, and more importantly, you will keep his heart on the right track."

Sanae looks at Ail as Siki said this. Siki then tells her "no. None of them can hear us. This task will be your own. Use everything in your power, and don't forget to use that divine power of yours as much as possible during the events that will take place very soon."

Sanae nods then asks "can... you tell me a bit more?"

Siki closes her eyes and says "understand that great pain is going to fill that boy's heart. When that happens, he will need all the support he can get."

Sanae feels a cold wind creeping up her spine when SikiEiki tells her this.

Siki lowers her sword then says "all five of you, understand that you also have many great friends. You are not alone in these tasks. Let them help you, but whatever you do, don't tell them about the events that are to happen."

Reimu says "great. Again you guys make me work... but for Gensokyo I would do all that and more."

Ail nods and says "I am sure we all love Gensokyo enough to do these simple tasks and then some, am I right?"

Maribel jumps, raising her fist in the air and cheering "YEAH, of course! Long live Gensokyo, right!?"

Renko gets up and says "it took us a long time to get here, and I'm not planning to let that waiting and effort go to waste."

Sanae stays kneeling on the ground, then Ail gets close to her and offers his hand.

When she grabs his hand, he helps her up then asks "Sanae, you are alright?"

Sanae dusts her skirt and says "of course! And don't worry. I'll protect Gensokyo too, with all my power!"

Siki smiles and says "then I leave these tasks in good hands. Oh, and Ail! Have the Lunarian take a look at that left eye of yours. I hear she just came up with vision restoring drug. I must go now, and remember, not a word to anyone, but do ask for help. You're going to need it."

As she turns around she says "to think I could get in trouble for telling you all of this... oh well, some things are worth a little risk."

She gets on the boat where Komachi was covering her ears. She had fallen asleep completely by the time Siki arrives, so she strikes Komachi with her sword and says "falling asleep again, and so quickly too. You know, you are so lucky I don't fire you right now."

Siki continued lecturing Komachi all the way through the river and possibly even more, but Ail wasn't curious enough to find out.

Reimu says "let's go back to the shrine. I'm sure the others are anxious to greet you guys. I bet they even have the sake ready for a party. *Sigh* It's for a good cause, I guess."

She turns and smiles as she looks at the four humans, then signals them to follow, and so all five head to the skies in the direction of the Hakurei Shrine, Renko, of course, carried by Maribel.

-

At Alice's house, Luna and Medicine wait in Alice's living room, as she finishes repairs on Su-san. Medicine was sitting by the right edge of the sofa, while Luna sat on left edge. Both were very silent until Luna finally speaks.

"So, do you have any friends?" asks Luna.

Medicine looks at her, almost offended by the question and opens her mouth, but then she just closes her mouth, looks away and says "y-yeah... I got... friends."

Luna smiles then looks at her and says "well... want to add me to your list of friends?"

Medicine looks back at her, scowling and growling softly. She gets up from the sofa and walks to another chair, then in a low tone of voice she says "y-you wanna be my friend?"

Luna bends while sitting, in order to get a little closer without having to get up and says "I didn't hear that."

Medicine shouts back "I said that you can be my friend!"

Luna Smirks and says "well, once your doll... er, I mean... Su-san is better... let's go to the village. We can have some fun with the humans there. What do you say?"

Medicine gets nervous and says "th-the village? Hu-the humans? Umm..."

Luna half-smiles and says "you aren't afraid of some pathetic little humans, aren't you?"

Medicine spring up from her chair and says "of COURSE not! Humans don't scare me at all!"

Luna smirks and says "good, because we're gonna have some FUN with those humans."

Medicine looks at Luna very suspiciously, then smiles wickedly and says "sounds like a really good plan!"

Just then, Alice comes from her work room saying "I'm done. Here."

She hands Su-san to Medicine, who jumps with joy and shouts "SU-SAN~! You're all better!"

The little doll takes flight and twirls around the air in celebration.

Luna gets up with a wicked smile, places her hand in one of her dress' pockets and pulls out a few marks and says "here's the money I promised." in a very dangerous tone.

Alice sweats a little and says "h-hey, materials aren't free."

Luna bows and says "I know. I'm just expressing my gratitude for your help."

She raises her head while still bowing with a smirk that suggested danger.

Alice smirks back and says "just tell me if it's a fight you're looking for. I'll gladly accept."

Medicine pulls lightly on Luna's skirt and angrily says "HEY! You promised we would go to the village!"

Luna pats Medicine on the head and says "my, you're so right. Sorry miss Margatroid. Our little game will have to wait for next time."

Alice looks seriously back at Luna, then nods. Luna nods back and heads for the door, holding Medicine's hand.

Alice realizes this and says "hey, isn't your skin burning?"

Luna looks back and with a smile she says "I'm immune to poisons" then closes the door behind her.

Alice had a very bad feeling, but shrugs and thinks "if anything happens, those two will take care of it, as always."

-

Outside Alice's house, two shadows loom around the trees, moving about quietly.

One of them giggles, and the other whispers "Yuki, shut up, you're gonna give us away."

Alice comes out her door shouting "is someone there!?"

She looks around, but sees nothing, so she heads back inside. Immediately after closing the door, there was a knock.

She opens the door asking "yes, what is-?"

Again, there was nobody there. She looks around suspiciously, then slowly closes the door. Immediately after the door clicks, someone knocks on it one more time.

Alice swings open the door and angrily shouts "who the HELL is IT!?" but again, there was nobody there.

She growls and stomps on the ground while saying "dammit, DAMMIT!!! This is getting REALLY annoying!"

She bangs the door shut and when she turns around, Mai and Yuki were there, right behind her, waving their arms and saying "hi~!"

Alice gets the scare of her life, and falls unconscious on the floor.

Mai immediately rushes to her shouting "Alice! Alice, wake up! Yuki, I think we killed her!"

Yuki smiles and says "nonsense! She's just passed out. Here, lets put her to bed. I'll show you where she keeps the good tea."

Mai asks "hey, isn't that stealing, even if she's like our sister?"

Yuki says "are you kidding me? We're guests. I'm sure she won't mind."

As they take Alice's unconscious body to her room, Mai says "well, I guess you're right" then Yuki says "of course I'm right."

-

Back at the Hakurei Shrine, Sanae had Ail on a headlock and shouting "are you gonna tell us!?"

Reimu calmly says "Ail, why do you keep these things quiet?"

Ail gives up and says alright, ALRIGHT!!! I'll tell everything!"

Everyone sits around Ail as he begins to speak.

"First off... Mima? Why did you curse that apple?"

Mima sweats and says "err, apple? I don't remember any apple."

Ail looks at her and says "really? Well it just so happen I do, and I gave that apple to Maribel, and she grew cat ears and a tail!"

Mima gets a good look at Maribel, who flips her ears and swings her tail around. She was sitting next to Chen and Ran who insisted on coming with their master to Ail and Maribel's welcome-back party.

Mima gulps and says "wrong person... but it still worked out. She looks so CUTE!"

Hearts replace Mima's eyes as she lunges toward Maribel.

Ail knocks her down just before reaching Maribel and says "that felt better than I had hoped."

Sanae clears her throat and glares at Ail. He panics and starts to sweat, then says "alright, I was getting to that!"

-

"About that spell card... Listen, when Tenshi went mad up there in heaven, none of us were able to stop her. She was going to destroy everything up there, then head straight here. She had knocked me on the ground when I desperately called for help, since she made short work of my 'Holy Dance' spell, then suddenly, that spell card just materialized on my hands."

Reimu looks at Ail suspiciously, then Ail shouts "I'm telling the truth!"

Sanae tells him "calm down. Just go on."

Ail takes a deep breath and says "right. After I used it, I felt my very soul being turned into those stars. I could even feel when they impacted on Tenshi and on the ground. After about a minute, I felt cold, and just as Tenshi fell, I lost all my consciousness. I found myself facing SikiEiki, who immediately told me these words:

'Ail, you realize what has happened, correct? Well, since this was an accident, I will help you. I will take half of your spirit and keep it here with me, while it recovers the life force you used on that spell. After that you will be whole again. Mind you, you'll experience many changes while being a half-ghost. Oh, and don't tell anyone what has happened, and keep that card hidden.'

After that, just like she said to me, I started to feel different."

Ail sits down, feeling a little exhausted for some reason. Reimu offers him some tea.

Ail declines, but Reimu insists saying "it'll give you some energy."

Ail accepts and takes a big gulp, feeling immediately re-energized. Sanae stares at him sadly as he gets up once more.

-

Ail takes one last sip of tea and says "now, about this eye..."

He points at his left eyes as he says this.

"When I fought Yumeko, both of us sort of lost it, and we were aiming for not less than our lives. She threw so many daggers at once, I couldn't even see them all, and one of them got me right under this eye. I could still see afterward, so I didn't give it much though, but after the battle, as I carried Yumeko back to Pandemonium, I started to notice I wasn't seeing very well at all through that eye."

Maribel springs up and shouts "mister Ail! Why didn't you tell us anything!"

Ail looks back at her and says "because I didn't want to worry you."

Sanae crosses her arms and says "dummy! You should have said something."

Reimu adds "maybe Shinki would have been able to restore it for you."

Ail looks at Reimu and says "she couldn't. She tried various times after I returned, but nothing worked."

Maribel lowers her ears and hides her tail.

Ail notice this and says "see, this is why I didn't say anything. Don't worry. It's probably something temporary."

Reimu strikes him with her gohei and says "you should be more careful from now on. Eirin?"

Eirin smiles and says "come to my clinic tomorrow and I'll have a look, alright?"

Ail nods, then Sanae adds "and he'd BETTER be there, or I'll take him there myself."

Somehow, Ail felt she was worried, however he couldn't shake off the feeling that she would kill him if he didn't go to the clinic.

Marisa angrily gets up and says "you STILL haven't explained where you all went in such a hurry after arriving here!"

Ail backs away and says "calm down. We were just reporting something to the yama."

Marisa grumbles and says "fine, keep your secrets! I'm out of here. Later!"

Reimu tries to get close to her friend, but Marisa only shouts "LATER!" then gets out of the shrine and immediately flies away, hiding her tears as she flew away.

All present were left in shock at Marisa's behavior. Mima looks down to the ground and says "don't be mad at her. She may not have looked it, but she was really worried about you two. I think she's just mad you're not letting her in on your secrets. I think... she feels you're all pushing her away."

Reimu sighs and says "I'll have a word with her after she's calmed down."

As she sits down, she notices Yorihime glaring at Ail. She quietly sips on her tea, but keeps her eyes open for any trouble.

-

As Ail was about to sit down, Orin says "BRO!" Ail looks at her, gives her a hug, saying "Orin, how are you!?"

She hugs back and says "I was very worried about you, bro! You weren't coming to visit and I though you got mad at me and..."

Ail raises his hand and says "it's alright. Sorry to have worried you."

He notices Orin was waving her tails around and looking straight at him with a smirk.

Ail says "from here to the cave?"

Orin shouts "You're on!!"

They were about to leave the shrine when Eirin says "ah, ah, ah! Hold it right there, mister!"

She places an eye-patch on Ail's bad eye and says "my patients need to take care of themselves. Be careful out there!"

Ail smiles and says "thanks."

Ail and Orin position themselves just before the shrine's stairs.

They were just about to start the race when Chen positions herself next to Orin and says "don't you DARE tell me to stay here!"

Ran sounding very worried says "Chen, you be careful!"

Chen shouts "I'll be alright, Ran-sama!"

Ail adds "I'll make sure of it!" then smirks at Orin and Chen.

All three sprint off and start their race toward the cave to the underground.

Watching the trail of dust they raise as they run, Ran says "she's growing up so fast *sniffle*."

Reimu and Yukari stare at Ran for a moment, the Yukari grabs Ran by the shoulder, smiles and casually says "soon, you'll be a grandma too."

Ran turns into stone for a moment, then recovers and shouts "OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!"

-

At the Human Village, Medicine and Luna sneak around, avoiding detection by Keine, who apparently felt something was odd. They head straight into her school, while she goes around and behind the houses, and looks suspiciously.

"That woman. She's gonna give us trouble if she keeps snooping around." whispers Luna.

Medicine was trembling and was just about to start crying, but she holds back her urge to cry and whispers while trembling "th-th-that's wh-why I d-didn't want to c-c-ome here."

Luna smirks and says "don't worry, with me here, you shouldn't have any trouble. Now, start blowing as much poison as you can, and don't stop until I tell you to."

Still trembling, Medicine nods. Su-san would normally be quietly hovering above Medicine, but this time she pulled on Medicine's sleeves, as if trying to stop her, however Medicine ignores her and inhales as much air as she could, then started blowing a purple cloud all around her until the whole classroom was filled. Luna smirks and cackles as she unsheathes both swords and slashes the air, crossing the blades, sending a yellow cross straight at one of the walls of the school, blowing it up in the process.

Like a flash, Luna grabs Medicine and shouts "keep blowing that beautiful poison of yours!" as she runs outside.

Nobody could see them as they dash across houses so quickly, they looked like dark flashes. The villagers panic and Keine rushes to the front of the school to see poison flowing from her school and spreading all around the village. She started to feel dizzy, and suddenly starts seeing cups of tea flying just above her head.

She smiles and in a dreamy state she says "wa~it tea~. Please~ wa~it. Come to drink with me~!"

All the villagers were babbling about insanely while Luna cackles with glee and shouts "just a little more!"

Suddenly, from the Hakurei Shrine, Ail, Orin and Chen come running at such speeds that they blow away all the poison and knock Luna and Medicine away with such force, they fly all the way to the Youkai Mountain's base.

The human and the two Nekomatas continue their race, wondering what were those purple clouds and that scream, but Ail just shrugs and says "come on, you slowpokes! I'm barely breaking a sweat here!"

Chen shouts back "I'm just getting started!"

Orin says "Oh, I'm sorry, let me up the speed for you!"

All thre speed up and head toward their destination with smirks on their faces.

-

At the base of the Youkai Mountain, Aya was having some leisure time, fanning herself while lying on the floor, eating an apple and enjoying the peace and quiet. She hears a pair of fain screams, but thinks nothing of it. From inside her pockets, she pulls out a cup with some liquid inside and drinks contently, then again a pair of faint screams, this time sounding closer.

She gets up and asks "what's that noise?"

She looks around, but sees nothing, yet the screams were getting closer and closer. She finally looks up and spots Luna and Medicine, screaming at the top of their lungs, heading straight at her. She slightly moves to the left and smirks, however, Luna grabs hold of Aya's shirt as they passes by, pulling the tengu along for one bumpy ride on the ground that ends with a crash against a large boulder.

Aya lands on top of the boulder on her back, while Medicine lands on her stomach on the ground with Su-san on top of her, and Luna ends against the boulder with her legs up in the air, her skirt falling victim to gravity, revealing her tight white pants underneath. Aya's the first one to recover from the daze and immediately pulls out her camera and takes photos of Luna's pants.

After that, Medicine groans and rubs her head as she gets up, then Luna gets up, flips back on to her feet and shouts "what the HELL did you do that for!?"

Aya sits with her legs crossed on top of the boulder and angrily says "well, I am allowed some payback after you pulled into your spectacular crash, which I might consider news if I weren't in my DAY OFF!!!"

As if not even listening, Luna growls "give me those pictures, you perverted bitch!"

Aya smiles and sprouts a pair of black wings, and still, as if sitting on mid-air with her legs still crossed, she says "my, that's not the way to ask someone for something you want. I didn't even hear the magic word!"

Luna unsheathes one of her swords and starts shooting those colorful knives at Aya, who dodges them all with ease.

Aya hums and says "look, just ask nicely and I might consider giving these back."

From behind, a large shadow heads straight to Aya, trying to grab hold of her, but as if already aware, Aya dodges out of the way just in time and says "wow, is that you Kyo? It's been a while!"

Kyo casually says "hello Aya. Sorry, but could you please be so kind as to return those photos?"

Aya opens her eyes widely and says "no 'how are you, Aya?', no 'it's so nice to see you again'? I'm hurt"

Kyo glares at her and says "Aya~! I'm trying to be nice here."

Aya hums again and says "tell you what. You, the doll and that woman come by tomorrow and depending on what happens then, I'll destroy or use them for myself."

Kyo bows and says "alright. Tomorrow then."

Luna shouts back "KYO~! On who's side are you on!"

Kyo glances at Luna and says "we can't win against her. Let's just come by tomorrow. You, doll. Come on. Let's not get on her nerves."

Medicine gets angry and shouts "my name is MEDICINE!"

Aya watches as the three leave, then smiles and says to herself "what did I get myself into?"

-

Marisa was pacing in the living room of her house, grumbling incoherently.

She grabs her hat and tosses it away letting it hit the ground and shouts "I am their friend too, dammit!"

She starts to cry and sits on the ground with her back against a windowed wall. She sobs for some time then suddenly stops and raise her head after hearing a strange noise.

She was about to get up when a voice says to her "they don't want you, Kirisame. And after all you've done for them too. They cast you aside like yesterday's garbage. Do you hate them? You so-called friends? Hate them, Marisa Kirisame, get revenge on them. Hurt them, make THEM cry instead. They deserve it."

Marisa started to feel great hatred toward her friends. She though about Ail and Reimu and imagined herself making them cry in agony before dealing one final satisfying blow.

The voice continues "yes, Marisa, yes~. Use that hatred! Get revenge on those that cast you aside. You cared about them so much, you worried about them, and what did they do? They ignored you and push you away just like that. They don't deserve to live. Kill them... KILL THEM!"

Marisa gets on her feet with a determined look in her eyes. She could feel the hatred, it gave her more power, more focus, but it also hurt her. She felt sharp pain in her heart and her limbs.

"There's only one way to get rid of this" she said to herself as she reached for her Hakkero inside her hat.

Again, she tosses her hat aside and was about to leave, then sees a picture of Reimu and herself, side by side, just after beating the goddess from the Moriya Shrine. She remembers how much Reimu cared about her. Enough to get worried for her at the slightest display of discomfort.

Ail, who after being kidnapped by herself later treated her as he always had, forgiving her just like that, as if nothing ever happened.

She remembers how Mima cared for her for so many years, then suddenly she starts to cry again.

The voice shouts "you WEAK little witch! Don't hesitate. GO! DO IT! Hurt them. MAKE THEM SUFFER!"

Again, Marisa's eyes fill with anger and determination. She gets on her broom and flies away, not even caring that she left the door to her house open.

After she vanishes from sight, Agava jumps out from behind some bushes, laughing and saying "that was easier than I though. I may have lost my battle against that Kyo, but this new development worked out just fine. HA! Who knew that witch would succumb so easily to jealousy. Pathetic."

A tall shadow rises from behind little Agava, expanding and contracting and snarling as it did. Agava gets startled and stays put right were she was. She slowly turns around and looks at the towering figure behind her. It was Marisa, breathing heavily, scowling and frowning, looking as if her face had been horribly disfigured.

She points her Hakkero at Agava and growls "YOU... little... IMP!"

In a fraction of a second, a rainbow-colored beam fires from the miniature reactor straight at Agava, sending her flying high above the skies. When the beam fades away, she had blow away a pair of trees along with Agava, and a big chunk of the ground as well. She breathes heavily, then, as if unable to control her own body, she waddles back inside her house, slamming the door shut.

-

At the cave to the underground, Kisume was hanging from the trees just outside the cave and swinging herself for fun. She giggles and laughs on her own, just swinging around, when she suddenly hears a rumbling noise.

She looks behind her and asks to herself "what's that?"

Suddenly, something knocks her bucket, making her spin rapidly around the branch, then is sent flying up high, laughing and giggling even though she got really dizzy.

"I WIN!" shouts Chen as soon as she touches the cave's wall.

Shortly after, Ail and Orin arrive, Orin complaining and saying "you cheated."

Chen giggles and says "complaints will get you nowhere. Just accept the facts you two. I'm fastest than you!"

Ail takes a deep breath and says "Chen... it's 'faster than you', not 'fastest'."

Chen blushes a little and says "I knew that!"

Orin laughs and says "I'm really glad you're not mad at me, bro. Come and visit soon."

She waves back at Chen and Ail and just before entering the cave, she raises her arms and catches Kisume, just as she fell.

Her eyes were spinning while she smiles and says "eh~heh heh, let's do that again."

Orin shrugs and heads back inside to the cave after waving again at Ail and Chen.

Ail smiles at Chen and says "so, you wanna race back to the shrine?"

Chen looks down, hiding her tails under her skirt and saying "um... I'm a little tired now."

Ail gets a little surprised, but he smiles and says "get on my back. I'll fly us back."

Chen immediately jumps on Ail's back and quickly, the two were flying back to the shrine. As soon as they lift off, Chen falls asleep on Ail's back.

Ail notices this and says to himself "oh, she wasn't kidding. Better not wake her."

He flies slowly under the afternoon's sun, so Chen wouldn't wake up but suddenly starts feeling ill. For a moment he thinks it's a passing thing, but suddenly he started feeling very dizzy.

He thinks "what's the matter with me? Maybe something happened to my ghost half? No... this is..."

Suddenly, Ail falls down along with Chen, but she wouldn't wake up at all. Ail panics and immediately reaches for her, grabbing her by the back of her shirt, then slowly descends.

By the time he reached the ground, his heart was beating very fast, his limbs felt heavy, he couldn't see anything at all and he couldn't breathe. He felt as if his heart was about to explode any moment, however, the crystal he once wore around his neck started to shine brightly, breaking out from inside his pocket. He was able to see it as it placed itself gently on his right wrist, then suddenly a golden bracelet wraps itself around his wrist, and on top, the white crystal that had been twice blessed by the goddesses, one from Shinki, and another from Kanako and Suwako's ghosts.

When the bracelet sets tightly around his wrist, he wakes up and realizes he's still flying high with Chen still sleeping on his back, however he realizes he had the golden bracelet with the white crystal around his wrist. He looks around, his face covered in sweat, wondering what had just happened. Again, he looks at the bracelet and upon further inspection he notices a snake on the left, a frog on the right, and underneath, Pandemonium.

He breathes deeply and quietly says "I've got this bad feeling all of a sudden."

-

Arriving at the shrine, Ran immediately grabs Chen and pulls her from Ail's back, however, she had pierced her claws through his shirt, this this was only evident after the loud ripping sound as Ran pulled Chen back, and the chunk of fabric missing from Ail's shoulders.

Ail sweats a little, but only smiles and says "it's ok!" as Ran bows apologizing.

Reimu and Sanae look at him surprised, then Sanae says "Ail... you sound just like yourself again. Did something happen?"

Ail looks at her puzzled and says "umm, like myself? You mean I wasn't myself?"

Reimu gets closer then spots the bracelet and the shining white crystal on it.

She inspects it closely and says "you sneaky human! You got three gods blessing this crystal of yours!"

Ail looks at the bracelet and says "ah yeah... right before this thing appeared on my wrist, I felt as if I was going to explode."

Reimu smiles almost a little too enthusiastic and shouts "you should have this blessed by the Hakurei gods! Here, I'll do that for you!"

Ail complains as she pulls him closer to the donation box and starts chanting some strange dialect. Ail tries to pull his hand away from her and slowly get away, but Reimu pulls a charm from her sleeve while chanting and says "stay put" and continues the chant as she placed the charm on Ail's forehead.

Mima, who was clinging on to Maribel, comes outside to see what was all the commotion.

She stands next to Sanae and asks "what's going on here?" then starts petting Maribel's cat ears, making her purr with a content look in her face.

Sanae looks at them, but as if not noticing the small event she answers "well, Ail just came back with the Nekomata, then Reimu saw his new bracelet and then said she wanted to bless it too, and now she's speaking in tongues."

Mima casually says "oh, this should be exciting."

Suddenly, after looking at Ail's bracelet and the crystal for a moment she lets go of Maribel, letting her fall to the ground and runs toward Reimu shouting "wait, Reimu, not so fast!"

but by the time Mima got close enough, Reimu finishes chanting and places her index finger on Ail's crystal, making it glow even more brightly, then it turns black for a moment, then goes back to white.

She smiles and says "done. Huh? Oh, Mima? What's the matter?"

Mima smirks and points at Ail who was staring blankly and just stood there with his arm raised and his eye-patch falling off.

Reimu giggles in shame and says "well, I guess I should have waited before adding another blessing. But the good news is the blessing was a complete success. Look!"

Mima and Sanae get closer and look inside the crystal. Although it was white, looking inside of it revealed a small black and white yin-yang orb spinning slowly inside.

Reimu smiles and says "when he wakes up, I'll have him show this off to everyone, then they'll all come and donate to my shrine and buy many of these blessed bracelets! Aren't I a genius!?"

After saying this, she lets go of Ail's arm, and just like that, he falls to the ground, his eyes wide open, the eye-patch falling off completely, his arms still lifted, but looked as though he was not even breathing.

-

Eirin comes out of the shrine with Yorihime and says "well, we'll be heading back- What just happen here?"

Reimu and Mima were poking Ail asking him to wake up in a very casual tone while Sanae was begging them to stop it.

Maribel gets close to Eirin and Yorihime and says "Something about a blessing to his crystal that he has on his wrist now, but it was too fast, so he got stiff and fell."

Yorihime laughs and says "in short, that red and white miko messed up, huh?"

Reimu gets annoyed and from where she was she shouts "I heard that!" but continues poking Ail, now with her gohei.

Eirin sighs and says "well, might as well just take him to my clinic as he is. His eyes are wide open, making it easier for me to examine them."

Yorihime says "alright, I'll go get him."

Yukari chuckles and says "as a favor, I'll send you to the clinic in a second." and opens one of her gaps.

Eirin smiles and says "how thoughtful." but then Yukari says "sure. Just let him know he owes me one, after he wakes up."

Eirin sweats and giggles then says "what a friend."

-

Just as Tewi and Reisen entered the gap with Ail on a stretcher, Kyo arrives flying, carrying Luna on his arms.

He spots Ail and shouts "AIL! He's back!? Ail, buddy!? Huh? What happened now?"

Medicine, who catches up to him says "hey, I remember that guy. He was weird."

Kyo and Medicine land next to each other, and immediately after setting Luna on the ground, Kyo runs to the gap, but it closes right after Eirin and Yorihime enter it.

Reimu was just standing there with a casual smile on her face and says "sorry, you'll have to wait until after the operation."

Kyo looks in disbelief and says "again!?"

Maribel sadly says "his left eye is blind, so miss Eirin's gonna fix it."

Kyo places his hand on his face and says "why does he always get into so much trouble?"

Reimu shrugs and says "beats me. Maybe he's just a trouble magnet."

Kyo glares at Reimu and says "you're still as bitchy as ever, I see."

Reimu smacks him hard with her gohei and smiles while asking "did you say something?"

Luna stood far away from the others along with Medicine. She glares at Sanae, who simple looks back casually, then bows her head.

Sanae, then walks toward Reimu and Kyo and says "you guys, it's been great seeing you but..."

Reimu smiles and says "go. I'm sure they're starting to get worried."

Sanae smiles and bows, then flies away back to her shrine.

-

It was almost dark now at the Moriya shrine. Suwako and Kanako were standing outside asking each other "do you see her?" "Is she here yet?" "Maybe we should go look for her?"

Suwako flies up on the shrine's gate and looks around but sees nothing.

Kanako shouts "Suwako, let's go look for her ourselves. All this waiting is gonna drive us crazy!"

Suwako was about to come down when she suddenly shouts with excitement "look! Look! Sanae's back!"

Kanako smiles and says "quickly, let's serve dinner!"

Suwako shouts back "NO~! I wanna say 'hi' to Sanae~!"

They spent so long arguing that they didn't realize Sanae had already landed and was staring at them.

Kanako looks at Sanae and smiles as she says "Sanae, we were so worried!"

Suwako jumps and says "my Sanae's back!"

Kanako grabs Suwako by the back of her shirt after she jumps a second time and angrily says "hey, she's MY Sanae too, you know!"

Suwako says "she's MY granddaughter, you wrinkled old lady!"

Kanako shakes Suwako around like a rag doll shouting "I'm MUCH younger than you, you warty old toad!"

Sanae starts to laugh as tears drop from her eyes. Kanako and Suwako both stop arguing and look at Sanae concerned.

Kanako immediately runs toward Sanae and shouts "SANAE!? Who hurt you!? What did they do to you!" followed by Suwako who says "if that maiden made you cry like that, I'll make her PAY!"

After they get close enough, Sanae starts to cry even more, then she lunges at the two goddesses and hugs them tight, crying "Lady Yasaka, Lady Moriya, you're alive! You're both alright! I'm so glad!"

Both Kanako and Suwako look at each other quite confused, but just hug Sanae back.

Still confused Kanako says "well of course we're alive. Sanae, what's the matter?"

Suwako says "please, Sanae. Stop crying. We're here. It's ok."

All three stay outside a little longer, then somehow, Kanako convinces Sanae to get inside the shrine, just as the sun sets, ending one of the most exhausting days in Gensokyo.

-

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava and Luna were created by Willie G.R.

AUG 23 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	12. Chapter 11

And so, back home in Gensokyo. Sanae is reunited with the goddesses from the Moriya Shrine, Renko and Maribel once again return to the Hakurei Shrine together, Ail has his eye treated at Eirin's clinic after having a short race with a pair of Nekomata and being frozen in place by a hasty miko in red and white that insisted on adding the Hakurei god's blessing to his new bracelet too quickly and everything else seems to be back to normal.

On the other hand, Marisa's heart is filled with much anger and doubt, Agava is constantly plotting against Reimu, trying to cause as much trouble for her as she can, however she keeps on failing, and also, the fact remains that nobody knows who has the missing pieces of the crystal armor Ail and the other humans ripped off the shaggy man.

-

Morning at Eirin's clinic. Ail wakes up and discovers he had another eye-patch, although this one was taped on around his left eye so it wouldn't fall off. He touches lightly around it, but immediately feels pain, cringing and yelping lightly. He looks around with his good eye, but realizes Eirin has surrounded him with a curtain, so he decides to close his eye again, drifting back to sleep almost immediately.

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Kyo wakes up with a roaring yawn as he exists the shrine and heads to the gate, where he puts on the amplifier, stretches, does some light exercises, then heads toward the village, jogging down the stairs.

Luna had woken up too and was watching him from behind a tree, blushing and swooning as she did. From behind her Medicine stares and suddenly asks "are you in pain?"

Luna gets shocked, jumps in place, then bangs Medicine on the head with her fist as she landed, shouting "don't sneak up on me, or I'll hit you!"

Medicine holds her head in pain and sobs as she says "don't-don't say that AFTER hitting me, you-you idiot!"

Looking at the little youkai cry like that makes Luna's heart feel a tug. She tries to scowl, but she was not even able to.

She gives up and says "I'm sorry... Just don't sneak up on me like that next time. I can be dangerous."

Medicine forces a smile, then Luna looks away and pats her on the head, thinking "that's it. I've lost it."

-

At the Moriya Shrine, Sanae wakes up with a smile on her face and immediately starts sweeping the floors. She looks around and smiles after seeing a few birds flying by.

She hears a door opening from inside and says to herself "ah, lady Kanako must be up."

Kanako peeks her head outside and says "good morning Sanae! How are you feeling today?"

Sanae waves back at her with a great smile and says "much better, thanks for asking!"

From inside Kanako shouts "don't worry about breakfast today, I'll take care of it!"

Sanae giggles and says "thank you very much!"

She starts humming a tune and continues sweeping. Suwako was sitting on top of the large red gate to the shrine, staring at Sanae.

She thinks "those tears last night... Sanae, what happened? You don't cry like that for just nothing." Suwako continues to silently watch Sanae, wondering what happened to Sanae, and if there was something she could do.

-

At Marisa's house, Marisa wakes up feeling even more tired than when she went to sleep in the first place. She looks around at the mountain of a mess that surrounded her entire house and somehow starts feeling more depressed.

She gets up from her bed and heads directly to her kitchen, then stares at a bucket of water she had placed on the table there. She looks at her reflection for a moment, then dunks her head inside, keeping it there for a moment, then suddenly she pulls herself back up, spluttering a little.

She takes a deep breath and says "alright then... I'll do it."

She goes back to her room, puts on her black witch clothes with the white apron, grabs her Hakkero, then her broom and immediately after closing the door behind her she takes to the air. Inside her house, she left her hat right where she had tossed the the night before, a single spec of dust falling on it's tip as Marisa vanishes in the early morning skies.

-

Back at Eirin's clinic, Eirin is examining Ail's eye.

"Now look to the left. Good. Now the right. Good, good."

Eirin smiles as she instructs Ail to move his eye around.

Ail looks at her smiling like that and with a large sweat-drop on his forehead he asks "was I and experiment for you?"

Eirin giggles and says "my, you caught on already. Well I wasn't sure of the drugs effect and after effects, but all seems to be good."

Ail looks at her in disbelief and asks "you're enjoying this, aren't you?"

Eirin says in the most angelic tone of voice "now, now. Don't get angry. The operation and application was a complete success after all."

Ail sighs and says "true, true. So, aside from the pounds of blood you stole from me, how much do I owe you?"

As he gets up from the chair besides Eirin's desk, Eirin sweats, but smiles and asks "how did you know?"

Ail points at the 12 blood sacks on the shelves next to the drug used to restore Ail's eye.

Eirin smiles again, sweating some more and says "1500 should cover it."

Ail bows and with a smile he says "here you go, and thanks for everything."

Once Ail shuts the door behind him, in a very sweet, yet dangerous tone of voice, Eirin says "Udonge~~!"

Reisen walks to her master with a smile that vanishes immediately after looking at Eirin's blood-thirsty smile and asks "what is it-... err, master?"

Still in that sweet tone of voice, Eirin says "didn't I tell you to properly put away the collected blood samples?"

Reisen gulps when she realizes all the blood-sacks were on the shelves.

"Punishme~nt." continued Eirin in such a sweet voice, that suggested intent of murder.

Eirin grabs Reisen by her ears and drags her to the back-room, where immediately upon shutting it, bangs, explosions, clacks, Reisen's death screams and Eirin's evil yet sweet tone of voice could be heard echoing through the clinic walls.

Beside the shelves with a wicked glint in her eyes and an evil smirk on her face, Tewi snickers and says to herself "mission accomplished" then flips her thumb up, and calmly heads to the clinic's exit while contently whistling.

-

As Ail walks through the Bamboo Forest he comes across Yorihime, with her sword ready at hand. She strikes hard on the ground with the blade, trying to surround Ail with many blades that pop up from under the ground, however he had placed a barrier under his feet, so the blades merely lift him off from the ground.

He crosses he arms and asks "may I ask what's the problem... miss?"

She pulls her sword from the ground, but the blades under Ail didn't go away. She swings her blade twice in front of herself and says "don't you recognize me?"

Ail stares at her for a moment and snaps his fingers, saying "you're miss... err... missis... Yorihime... right... or is that your sister?"

Yorihime smiles and chuckles then says "you got it right. Now tell me something. How is it that one moment I'm minding my own business on the moon, then I'm suddenly dragged down here by one of your gates, with no way to return home, or contact my sister?"

Ail gasps and asks "wait, I never opened a gap to the moon. Not consciously that is."

Yorihime smiles again and says "consciously or not, I'm here and to my understanding, it's your own doing. Can you undo this?"

Ail ponders for a moment then says "maybe. I would need help though."

Yorihime swings her sword again, only this time while staring dangerously at Ail and shouting "EXCUSES! Take responsibility from what you have done!"

Ail had knelt on his barrier and calmly says "well, whether you believe me or not seems is out of the whole question. Any deals before we begin?"

Yorihime smiles and says "if I win, you'll have to come with ME to the moon and serve time for your crime of kidnapping me!"

Ail calmly asks "and if I win?"

Yorihime lunges at him with her sword held above her head and shouts "you're not going to win!"

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu had just woken up and was quietly drinking some tea as Mima, Maribel and Renko were cleaning the storage house. Nitori had left very early in the morning apparently, along with Kyo, Luna and Medicine too.

The shrine was pretty quiet that morning, until a familiar buzzing noise catches Reimu's attention, jumping away from a vicious Master Spark at the very last second. Marisa hovers above the shrine, glaring menacingly at Reimu.

Mima, Renko and Maribel immediately come running from the storage room shouting "Reimu!"

"Are you alright!?"

"What happened!"

All three look up and see Marisa, who shouts "don't any of you dare interfere! This is MY fight with Reimu."

Mima shouts back with concern "Marisa, calm down. You're acting irrationally!"

Marisa shouts back with fury "SILENCE! Don't get in the way!"

Mima gets a little angry, but Marisa's angry glaring scared her.

She looks up and asks "Marisa, what happened?"

Reimu calmly flies up and says "I wasn't done with that, you know."

Marisa shouts "just shut up! This is it Reimu, this is the day I beat you!"

Reimu casually glances at Marisa and says "is that so? Well, you can try again if you want, but-!"

Reimu narrowly dodges a blue beam that was aimed straight at her face. With shock and surprise in her face, Reimu looks back at the hat-less Marisa, who stares angrily back at Reimu.

Reimu, looking much more serious, pulls out her gohei, a pair of charms and some needles and says "I see. I still can't tell you anything if I lose. You understand that, right?"

Marisa replies "*tck* So arrogant!"

-

At the Bamboo Forest, Ail had just avoided Yorihime's sword slash and started shooting a barrage of bullets toward her. She bounces off most with her sword, however Ail manages to land some of his bullets on her ankles. She yelps and kneels.

Ail calmly gets closer and asks "so you want to stop this already? I already told you, I need help before I can get you back."

Yorihime growls "you're gonna pay for kidnapping me!"

She covers herself up in flames and rushes straight at Ail, who simply steps aside a little, avoiding a direct hit to his face. She flips away from Ail's reach and smiles.

Ail looks at her with curiosity and asks "what did you just-"

Suddenly Ail feels his skin burning a little, then he holds his right cheek and jumps around in pain and shouts "ow, ow, ow~~!!! Geez, you're hot!"

Yorihime gets a little shocked and says "h-HEY, that's no way to speak to a married lady!"

Ail shouts back "no, I mean literally! What the hell was that? You weren't even close!"

Yorihime realizes what he meant and says "oh, right. I just surrounded myself in the divine flames of Lord Agato. Give up now and you can avoid the pain."

Ail smirks and says "I see. Tell you what? If I win, you let me go to my house, rest for a bit, say hi to a few friend, and THEN I'll send you back home. What do you say?"

Yorihime grabs her sword then lunges again toward Ail shouting "I already told you, you're NOT going to win!"

She thrusts her blade straight at him, then as he jumps she summons another god.

"Ame no Uzume no Mikoto!" echoes her voice as Ail jumps away from her sword, however Yorihime's body starts to glow and she spins with great agility, kicking Ail on the ribs, sending him flying back with great force, making him break a tree branch with his head.

She smirks as Ail gets up and says "that was too close."

Yorihime opens her eyes widely and wonder what he meant, then realizes he had a blue barrier behind his head.

He smiles back and says "now it's my turn."

-

Back at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu was shooting all sorts of charms toward Marisa, but she would shoot a barrage of stars and beams, destroying all the charms long before they reached her. Reimu grunts as she tosses various needles at her. Marisa dodges the needles to the best of her abilities, but one of them lands straight on to her left cheek.

Reimu gasps and rushes to her friend. "Marisa! I'm sorry, are you ok?"

Marisa quietly pulls the needle off and swipes the trickle of blood off and shouts "this is a BATTLE! Fight like you mean it!" then fires a concentrated blue beam straight at Reimu.

Reimu manages the place a barrier right in front of herself before the beam reached her, however the beam came with great force, breaking the barrier into pieces, but not before giving Reimu the chance to get away in time.

Reimu looks back at Marisa with concern in her eyes and says "Marisa, you're going to burn out! You're using way too much power!"

Marisa growls and replies "today I'm gonna beat you, even if it KILLS me!"

Reimu gulps and sweats when she looks into Marisa's determined eyes.

She saw the anger in them and thought "she's really going all out. Right, I better stop her before she hurts herself!"

Marisa raises her right hand above her head and shouts "Magic Sign - Stardust Reverie!"

Countless stars, all in different sizes and colors fall toward Reimu in straight lines, then small groups of stars would swirl and twirl, almost succeeding in catching Reimu off guard.

Marisa scowls and says "too easy. Have THIS instead! Black Magic - Event Horizon!"

Just like her Stardust Reverie before, stars of all sizes and colors fall straight at Reimu, however there were so many, Reimu could not see any way to escape. She dodges as best as she can, being grazed, he clothes getting shred by the hundreds of stars heading her way.

Reimu manages to get close enough to Marisa and shouts "Divine Arts - Omnidirectional Demon Binding Circle"

Marisa gasps and tries to fly away, but is unable to avoid getting trapped inside the large circle of charms. She panics as she dodges as if her life depended on it, and was unable to fire back at Reimu while concentrating on dodging the charms and now the yin-yang orbs headed her way.

She shouts to the air, grabs her broom by the tip, jumps off and using the momentum, she spins in mid-air and uses her broom as a bat, sending a few of the yin-yang orbs straight back at Reimu, others flying back toward the village.

Reimu stops her own spell and dodges the orbs. Marisa was now falling down, but at the last second, her broom starts flying again, and like an acrobat, she spins around the broom, flips in the air, then sits back on her broom.

Mima watches with despair at the stunts Marisa was doing just to beat Reimu. She knew if she kept going as she did, someone was going to get seriously hurt, but if she tried to stop them, she knew she'd be the one in danger. All she could do was watch while Reimu defended herself from Marisa's assaults.

-

At the bamboo forest, Ail was using his barrier as a shield around his arms as Yorihime tries to strike him with her sword while moving with great agility and flexibility. Ail was getting scared, so he unleashes a massive energy blast that sends her flying back.

He catches his breath and says "if you kill me now *pant* I won't be able to *pant* send you back home!"

Yorihime's body stops glowing as she stands a few feet away, just staring at Ail. She smirks and shouts "come, Lord Honoikazuchi!"

A large creature made of fire and roaring like thunder towers right in front of Ail, expanding seven flame dragons above itself. Ail sweats and tries to run, however the creature surrounds him and starts to spin with great force as it contracts itself around Ail. He desperately looks for a way out but finds none. As the flames engulf him, a deathly scream echoes all around the Bamboo Forest.

Yorihime smirks as the flame vanish, but her smirk immediately disappears when she realizes there's no body in there. For a moment everything was quiet, when suddenly, from behind her, a blue gap opens up, and out comes Ail running as his entire body is engulfed in flames.

He runs in circles around her, burning her as well in the process. He runs away from her screaming incoherently as the fire kept burning him alive.

She extinguishes the fire on her skirt then shouts "STOP DROP AND ROLL, you IDIOT!"

Ail throws himself on the ground and starts rolling, extinguishing the flames around him. When the flames die out, Ail pants on the ground and as he gasps for air he says "th-thanks!"

Yorihime realizes she just helped him and says "wait, what the hell!? I'm supposed to be beating you, not helping you!"

Ail gets up laughing and says "you know, at first I didn't think I could really beat you, but then I remembered... I have the blessings of four gods, right here."

He raises his right arms and flashes the bracelet with the white crystal at her. He raises both his arms and suddenly powerful wind gusts blow Yorihime off her feet, and just as she fell, two small stone mounds in the shape of hands trap her tightly against the ground, leaving only her head and feet exposed.

She grunts as she tries to break free as Ail slowly walks toward her with an evil grin on his face and says "well, well, look at what two gods trapped here for me. Do you give up?"

Yorihime snarls and tries to break free once more and shouts "NO! When I get free from here I'm gonna... HEY, what are you doing!?"

Ail looks at her a little annoyed and kneels by her feet, pulling off one of her boots. From one of his pockets he pulls out a large white feather and shows it it her.

She panics and shouts "no... NO PLEASE!!! Anything but THAT!"

Ail smiles again and asks "ready to give up?"

She growls and says "NEVE~R!"

Ail shrugs and says "suit yourself."

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu and Marisa had both reached their limits.

"This is it Reimu. Today I'm finally going to beat you!" shouts Marisa with a cocky smile on her face.

Mima shouts "Marisa, don't do it!"

Marisa shouts back "ah, pipe down!"

Reimu was breathing heavily and awaited the worse.

Marisa points her Hakkero at Reimu and shouts "Loving Heart - Double Spark"

Two large multi-colored beams fire at once, one from Marisa's miniature reactor, the other from her free hand. Both beams combine into one, becoming one immensely large beam. Reimu flies away for dear life, dodging many large stars that headed her way along with the large laser.

When the beam subsides, Reimu takes the opportunity, raises a spell card and shouts "Divine Spirit - Fantasy Seal!"

Charms that tracked Marisa down, large energy balls and yin-yang orbs spread from Reimu. Marisa had to cancel her spell in order to avoid Reimu's, however she was caught by some charms that sapped her power, then one yin-yang orb strikes her on the head, almost knocking her off her broom.

Reimu stops, and tired, but with concern in her voice she asks "will you stop this now?"

Marisa was barely able to keep flying, however, in a final attempt to surprise Reimu, she quietly mouths and incantation, then suddenly shouts "Magicannon - Final Master Spark!"

Reimu uses the last of her strength to fly out of the way of a massive multi-colored beam, then, thanks to a mistake, Reimu crashes against a tree branch and avoids a star that was headed straight at her.

Marisa had used so much of her power that as soon as the beam stops she says "I lost... again." then she and her broom fall straight to the ground below from great heights.

Mima, Renko and Maribel shout in horror and run as fast as they could toward Marisa, hoping to be able to reach her in time before she fell to the ground. Already Reimu was ahead of them, but she knew they couldn't reach her in time, so she fires a pair of yin-yang orbs, sending Marisa's limp body straight to the spring on the right side of the shrine.

With a large loud splash, Marisa falls on the springs. Reimu was hoping the water had broken her fall, even if just a little. When they reach the spring, Marisa wasn't coming up, so Reimu rushes to where some bubbles were coming and fishes out Marisa as quickly as she could.

Marisa coughs and splutters, spitting some water out and weakly says "you-you came for me. You... really care about me."

Reimu felt desperate, her heart racing with fear as she holds Marisa's head just above the water.

She shakes her friend and almost crying she shouts "Marisa, you idiot! What the hell got into you! Of course I care about you. You're my friend!"

Marisa weakly laughs, then collapses out of exhaustion. Mima, Renko and Maribel arrive just then, Mima shaking as she gets closer and passes her hand over Marisa's head.

Reimu takes a deep breath of relief and says "it's ok. She just passed out."

Mima takes a breath of relief and grabs Marisa, then carries her to the shrine while saying "you foolish girl, I told you someone would get hurt!"

-

At the bamboo forest, incessant laughter echoes all around as Ail tickles Yorihime's foot with the large white feather.

She laughs and shouts "no! NO, stop! HAHAHAHAHA! This is CRUEL and unusual torture! HAHAHAHAHA stop it!!"

Ail smiles and says "not until you admit defeat!"

Yorihime tries to contain her laugh, but it was no use and explodes with laughter one more time, then, finally she shouts "HAHAHAHAHA This is too much!!! HAHAHAHA OK! OK I GIVE UP! You win! Just STOP ALREADY!!!"

Ail pulls away the feather, then waves his right hand and the stone hands bury themselves back down to the ground, releasing Yorihime, who's face was red, her eyes full of tears and still felt some of the feather's tickle on her foot.

She was still giggling when Ail says "now, I'm gonna go back home, at last. I'll take a break, visit some friends, then I'll come back with Maribel and send you back to the moon. I promise."

Yorihime swipes her boot from Ail's hand and angrily says "that was a cheap way of winning, you monster!"

Ail smiles and says "but I'm sure it beats blasting you to submission, right?"

Yorihime thinks for a moment, her face still very red. She glares at Ail and says "I think I would have preferred the blasting."

Ail chuckles and says "I beg to differ. Well, I still won either way, so, no hard feelings, and I'll be back tomorrow and take you back home, is that ok?"

He gets up as he says this and extends his hand to Yorihime. She nods and accepts his help, then Ail leaves as soon as he sees she was ok.

Before going away too far Yorihime turns to him and says "hey." Ail turns around, then she says "you're not as bad as I though you were. Umm... thanks"

Ail smiles, flips his thumb up, then continues his way back to his house.

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Marisa had been laid on a futon. Mima served her some tea and some rice cookies. Reimu was worried for her friend and would not eat anything until Marisa finally wakes up.

She looks at Reimu's concern and asks "are you really that worried?"

Reimu shouts "of course I am. What kind of question is that, you idiot!?"

Marisa smiles and closes her eyes as she said "it's ok. I understand that you can't tell me what's going on."

Reimu angrily responds "then why all of this? What was the whole purpose!?"

Marisa opens her eyes again and says "I was jealous."

Reimu was left in complete shock to Marisa's confession.

Marisa chuckles and says "pathetic, I know. But lately it's all been Ail and Maribel this, and Ail and Maribel that. Then Sanae and Renko disappear too, then they come back and leave to a secret meeting with you. What about me? I'm your friend too, right?"

Maribel was crying twin waterfall as she says "yeah, you are our friend too miss Marisa!!"

Renko grabs Maribel my her cat ears and says "let them settle their private matter, alright?"

Mima gets up and leaves as well and says "Marisa, you child."

Reimu stares angrily at Marisa, but still shows concern.

Marisa chuckles again and says "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said something like that."

Reimu says "you idiot!" as she bends down and hugs her friend, then whispers in her ear "I'm sorry."

She gets back up and says "I know, I've been paying too much attention to them, but I was worried about them. I never meant to make you feel this way."

Marisa's eyes fill with tears then gets up and hugs Reimu, who hugs back and says "you're my best friend, Marisa. Nobody will replace you, you can be certain of that."

When they stop hugging, Mima and Maribel were hugging each other and crying "this is so sweet and tender~!"

Renko was standing next to Aya with a smile on her face, and Aya looked a little sick and says "this is WAY too mushy!"

Both get quite annoyed and immediately icicles and charms fly straight at the onlookers, knocking them all out on the floor just next to the shrine's porch.

-

Ail had reached the village and bought a few things to eat and was about to head home when he spots Kyo looking at a vacant piece of land next to one of the village's exits.

"KYO!?" shouts Ail.

Kyo looks at him surprised and says "Ail!? AIL BUDDY! Finally! How are you!?"

Both walk toward each other and immediately shake hands as they reach, Kyo pulling him and giving him a hug, Ail trying to hug back without crushing the fruit he had just bought.

Kyo then says "so appart from disappearing, how have you been!?"

Ail says all is good here. I really love this place... hey wait, what are you doing here? I thought you wouldn't want to come back for at least a year."

Kyo smiles and says "well, Yukari came looking for me, told me you were in trouble, then I came here with Luna, my g-"

Ail looks at him expectantly, then Kyo says "A very special friend" while sweating nervously.

Ail looks at him mischievously and says "well, well. I wasn't expecting to hear that so soon. And where is Luna?"

Kyo gets depressed and says "she disappeared since this morning. I don't know where she is right now. And I really wanted you to meet her."

Ail looks a little disappointed and says "aww, it's alright. Besides, you're not leaving so soon, are you?"

Kyo smiles and says "nah. Luna and I decided to stay here."

Ail was in complete shock, then Kyo continues "that's why I'm having a word with the village elders and looking around here. I'm gonna build us a house here."

Ail smiles and says "that's wonderful! Just say the word and I'll help you if I can."

Kyo says "thanks buddy. Hey, after I find Luna and visit the tengu, can we come visit you?"

Ail replies "sure. I would be honored!"

Kyo says "great! We'll see you later buddy!"

Ail smiles and says "I'm glad you're here to stay, my friend. Maybe with you on the male's team, we can finally beat those girls at the videogames."

Kyo laughs hard, then hides his face and says "I've already lost 500 times against Luna..."

Ail replies "oh~ I see."

A cold wind blows by them, then Ail says "well, I'm a little anxious to get home, so I'll be seeing you. Good luck with your house."

They wave at each other, Kyo thanking him for the well-wishing, then goes back to look at that spot he was so interested in.

He explores it a little more and spots two steaming yin-yang orbs half-buried on the center of the small empty field and says "PERFECT. This is the spot!"

-

Finally, Ail reaches his house.

"Ahh, just like I left it." he says as he looks at his white house with the bright blue roof.

As he enters, he notices the door wasn't locked and says "not as I left it." but then remembers future Cirno's story of how she found that spell card of his in his house, then shrugs and goes inside, locking his door after closing it behind him.

He takes a deep breath and says "ahh, so good to finally be back."

He heads to his kitchen and starts to unload the bag of fruits he had bought, but as he did, he hears wings flapping inside one of the rooms.

Immediately he shouts "Mystia, what are you doing here? Come out, I know you're in here!"

No reply. He sighs and says "fine, I'll play hide-and-seek for a moment, but then you have to leave, alright?"

Again, wings rapidly flapping from inside his storage room.

He thinks for a moment and says "wait... if it was Mystia, she would have said something by now."

He slowly reaches the storage room and notices the door was open. Looking inside before entering, he finds nothing. He enters the room and quietly looks around, then, right above him, he hears a whimper.

He looks up and sees a large brown cocoon and says "well that's new."

He flies up to look at the cocoon a little closer, but then realizes he was looking at a pair of wings. Just like that, the wings spread open, startling Ail. A small bat youkai had entered his house and was nervously flying all around the tall ceiling and babbling nervously and incoherently.

The bat finally swoops down and exits the room. Ail follows it out of the room shouting "wait, who are you!?"

The bat, trying to fly away, crashes it's left wing against the door's archway and falls down to the floor, unable to fly up again. It crawls back to the kitchen, but corners itself.

It hisses as Ail slowly gets closer, then shouts "get away!" with a small child-like voice.

Ail looks around and realizes some of the fruits he was storing were already eaten by the child. The bat was still covering itself with it's large brown wings and shivering on the floor, cornered against the kitchen sink.

Ail grabs a banana he had just bought, kneels down and slowly gets closer to the child gently saying "it's ok, calm down." and offering the fruit.

He stops when he was about one foot away and says "here, you like fruits, right? It's ok, I'm not gonna hurt you."

The bat child opens it's wings a little to peek at Ail. After seeing the fruit, it opens it's wings a little more, slowly. It reaches for the banana and nervously grabs it and starts eating it almost desperately.

Ail smiles and asks "is it good?"

The shy little creature completely opens it's wings. Ail gets a good look at it.

-

It was a young female bat youkai with violet eyes that have no pupil in them. Her teal colored hair is long, a little dirty and a bit messy, and Ail also notices she has small, but sharp-looking fangs, and small claws on her tiny hands.

She is wearing a dirty sack over her small body tied with a thin rope and her brown wings that sprout from beside her shoulder blades are as long and wide as her own body.

Ail offers his hand to the little bat youkai. For a moment, she shyly backs away and trembles a little but Ail softly says "it's ok, I'm not gonna hurt you or anything."

The little bat youkai slowly accepts Ail's hand, whimpering and closing her eyes as he gently closes his hand around hers.

She opens one eye then says "it's... warm."

Ail smiles widely in a goofy fashion and says "welcome little one. My name is Ail. What's your name?"

The little bat youkai stares at Ail and says "I don't have a name... sir, m-mister Ail."

Ail stops smiling and looks at her seriously for a moment. She gets a little scared, and Ail immediately notices and says "oh, it's alright. I'm just surprised. I'm not mad."

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu had Aya in a head-lock shouting "give me the photos, you perverted crow!"

Aya was being chocked, but manages to say "I swear, ack, I didn't take any photos."

Reimu releases her, then, as if nothing had happened, Aya smiles and says "I came here looking for Kyo, that silver haired girl, and that poisonous doll."

Reimu looks at her with surprise and wonder, then says "well they all left very early in the morning. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Iku since I returned from Makai."

Aya waves her hand and says "no,no, no. Not the oarfish. Just those two humans and that doll. They made a promise and I'm here to make sure they keep it."

Reimu had casually crawled back to the table and sits beside Marisa, both drinking tea and ignoring Aya.

She gets annoyed and shouts "are you ignoring me so early in the morning!?"

Reimu casually says "hey, hey, calm down. Wait around here for a bit. I'm sure they're bound to come around."

Aya smiles and says "sure, if you don't mind."

Reimu then adds "but don't start taking photos for that shady paper of yours, or I'll kill you."

Aya lowers her head and quietly says "ayayayaya~"

-

At the gate to Makai, a blond maid in red sneaks out, then quietly rushes away, using the trees as cover.

From behind, a pair of shadows snicker, then chase her. Yumeko realizes she's being followed, so she stops time around her for a moment, and speeds up, getting away from her pursuers, then as time is restored, she flies away.

The two shadows reveal themselves to be Luna and Medicine. Luna says "tck, we lost her" but Medicine says to her "no, I can follow her scent. Come on!"

Medicine grabs Luna by her hands then pulls her up to the air, then following Yumeko's scent, they chase after her, all headed straight to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

-

Back at Ail's house, the little bat youkai was sitting on Ail's lap as she explains to him how she got inside his house.

"So you say the door was open, but when you entered it closed and you didn't know how to open it?" asks Ail.

The little youkai nods and says "I though I was going to be in here forever and get hungry, but I found some fruit and I ate some, then I saved some others in case I needed to eat more."

Ail raises his eyebrows and says "my, that's very smart of you."

The little youkai giggles and says "thanks. I didn't know how to speak, but I read your books, and they teach me how to speak."

She smiles at Ail as she says this, then Ail looks at the fruits she had eaten. Half-eaten peaches, oranges, apples, but he notices the only fruits she completely finished off were the grapes.

He asks "so you like grapes?"

She giggles and says "I LOVE grapes. So tasty and juicy!"

Ail thinks for a moment, opens a small gap that startles the little youkai.

She nervously asks "w-w-what is that?"

Ail chuckles and says "it's alright. I opened a gap through a distance barrier to get something from the kitchen."

The little youkai says "oh" very calmly and re-accommodates again on Ail's lap.

He rummages around then says "got it."

She gets startled again, but immediately Ail pulls his hand out of the gap, closes it and shows the little youkai some big juicy purple grapes. At first she doesn't notice them, but when she does, she starts to drool, then springs off Ail and grabs the grapes, eating them contently while sitting on the floor.

Ail smiles and says "wow, you weren't kidding when you said you loved grapes."

Ail stares at her as she finishes slurping the last grapes and burps. He smiles and says "would you like a name, little one?"

The little youkai smiles at him, then lunges back into his lap and asks "you can give me a name!?"

Ail smiles and says "how about if I call you 'Budou', seeing as you love grapes so much?"

The little youkai screeches with glee and hugs Ail and says "I love it! Yay, my name is Budou!"

She gets off ail and thinks for a moment then asks "but... won't others try to eat me?"

Ail says "don't worry! If you don't mind, I'll protect you."

Budou shrieks with glee again and shouts "YAY, I have a daddy~!"

Ail sweats a little and thinks "a daddy? Am I really that old?"

-

Ail gets up from the sofa and says "well, Budou? How about if we go meet some friends?"

Budou gets very nervous and stutters for a moment.

Ail says "it's ok, I'm sure you will like them. And I'm sure they will like you too."

Ail finally notices that Budou was the same size as Lily white. Only half his height. He smiles at her and says "let's use one of my gaps to get there."

Budou starts trembling a little, then clings to Ail's leg as he opens the gap to the Moriya shrine. He smiles at her then offer his left hand, which she grabs hold of as she releases his leg. After entering, in just one second, they were already at the shrine.

She looks around and says "wo~w. That was so fast."

Ail says "now don't be afraid. I'm gonna call my friends so they can come and meet you." Budou gulps then nods.

Ail shouts "hey, Sanae~, Kanako~, Suwako~! Are you there?"

From inside comes Sanae with a smile on her face saying "Ail? Good morning. My, what brings you here so early in the morning?"

Budou was already hiding behind Ail's leg by the time Sanae comes out.

Sanae gets closer as Ail says "good morning, Sanae. I wanted you to meet someone. Bu-"

When Sanae gets closer, Budou panics and screams, then tries to fly away, but Ail grabs her leg and calmly says "Budou, calm down, calm down! This is Sanae. She's my friend. She won't hurt you."

Budou stops flapping her wings, then slowly comes back down. Sanae asks "Ail, who's this? She's so cute."

Budou was trembling behind Ail's legs as he said "I found her in my house. Seems she trapped herself inside. She didn't have a name, so I named her Budou."

Sanae asks "why Budou?"

Ail reaches into his pockets and hands Sanae some grapes and says "offer these to her."

Sanae kneels down and with a gentle voice she says "here you go Budou. Some nice grapes."

Budou peeks form behind Ail's legs and immediately after spotting the grapes, she reaches for them, however Sanae pulls them back and says "come here and I'll let you have them." while patting on her knees.

Budou whimpers and trembles, but the grapes on Sanae's hands looked juicy and tasty. She couldn't hold back any longer and lunges toward the grapes, snatching them from Sanae's hand, then kneeling on the ground, voraciously eating the grapes, slurping as she eats the last grape and contently sighs.

Before she realizes it, Sanae had been patting her on the head. When she did notice, she feels soothed and relaxed as Sanae softly says "there, there. See? I'm not so bad, aren't I?"

Ail smiles and says "should this one be marked as a miracle?"

Sanae giggles and asks "what is she wearing? And her hair? Oh my, let's take her inside."

Budou looks at both Ail and Sanae curiously, wondering what was going on.

-

After trying twice to escape, Budou meets Kanako and Suwako. With Suwako, naturally, she felt safe, but Kanako made her feel a little uneasy, being so tall and carrying those large logs around as if they were nothing. Still, they managed to calm Budou down and have her properly greet the gods, thanks mostly to Sanae, who managed to calm her down with ease. She also convinced Budou to take a bath and now has taken her to her room to give her some proper clothing.

After about an hour, Sanae comes out smiling and says "what do you guys think?"

When Budou comes out, her long teal hair was well combed and clean, and was wearing a light brown dress with two large black buttons holding the chest area closed, a frilly teal apron on top of the skirt and a small white bow on the left side of her head.

Suwako exclaims "wow, Sanae! you really worked some magic there!"

Ail smiles and says "wow, looking really cute there."

Kanako smiles and says "she looks adorable, Sanae!"

When Ail looks at her feet, she was wearing black fluffy slippers. Sanae smiles and says "it's the only thing she would wear."

Ail laughs and says "she's a feisty one after all."

Budou looks at all of them a little confused, then asks "papa Ail, momma Sanae? Why is everyone looking at me?"

Ail and Sanae both get pale and cold, then Sanae asks "m-momma?" then Ail asks "papa? Again?"

Kanako laughs and says "again, huh? Well mommy, daddy, you better take care of your child from now on."

Sanae was left speechless and Ail nervously giggles and says "err, is it ok to curse at goddesses?"

Suddenly Budou stares at Kanako, walks toward her and happily shouts "GRANNY~!!!"

Kanako freezes in shock as the rest laugh and then Sanae says "congratulations Lady Yasaka. You're a certified grandmother now."

Budou jumps on Kanako's lap and smiles at her.

Kanako's petrified face immediately turns red as she says "aww~ so cute!" then hugs Budou, rubbing her face against Budou's and saying "I don't mind being her grandmother."

They all laugh, but Suwako stares at Kanako with an evil smirk on her face, chuckling as she did.

-

Meanwhile, at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Yumeko spots Sakuya hanging some clothes to dry just outside the back of the mansion, and behind some bushes, Luna glares at Yumeko while Medicine mischievously stares on to the mansion and whispering "what pranks are we going to do today?"

Luna smiles with ill intent and says "oh, it'll be on HELL of a prank, I promise."

Medicine covers her mouth as she happily giggles while Su-san continues to pull on her sleeve, as if trying to warn her of some danger.

At Entei, Yorihime arrives with a smile on her face, telling Eirin "I'm going back home soon."

Eirin gets a little sad, but smiles at Yorihime, regardless.

At the Hakurei Shrine, Kyo arrives and is greeted by the silent tengu, staring at him from the roof of the shrine with a smirk on her face.

Kyo stares back at her, looking serious, wondering how to explain about the two missing girls that were supposed to go with him to meet her at the Youkai Mountain.

-

To be continued...

Characters, spell cards and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and Budou were created by Willie G.R.

AUG 24 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	13. Chapter 12

Ail and Sanae are now the proud father and mother of a very young female bat youkai that loves fruits, particularly grapes, called Budou, named by Ail himself.

Kyo is face-to-face with Aya, who asked him, Luna and Medicine to go to her at the Youkai Mountain, however Luna and Medicine are at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, planning a new prank, watching Yumeko stalk Sakuya, but behind all of them, Agava watches in silence, waiting.

Yuki and Mai are at Alice's house, and after having scared her to the point of unconsciousness, they stayed the night. Now Shinki awakes, wondering where could Yumeko, Yuki and Mai all be.

-

Morning at Makai. Shinki wakes up and finds her palace empty. Yuki and Mai were missing, Yumeko was nowhere in sight and wouldn't come when summoned, however on the dinning table, breakfast had been served as per usual.

Luize comes from the entrance corridor greeting Shinki. "Good morning, lady Shinki!"

Shinki smiles and says "well, so pleasant to see someone in here? Luize, where is Yumeko? And Yuki, and Mai for that matter?"

Luize looks at Shinki a bit puzzled and says "well, Yuki said she had some very important business in Gensokyo. Yuki and Mai... I haven't seen them at all, my lady."

Shinki smiles and says "ah, I think I know where they all went Such sweethearts."

She smiles then looks at Luize and asks "will you join me for breakfast, Luize? I'd hate to eat all alone."

Luize smiles widely and says "I'd by honored, my lady Shinki."

Shinki giggles, then both head to the table to enjoy breakfast.

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Aya had come down from the roof to face Kyo directly asking "well Kyo, where are the girls? You all promised you'd come with me today, and I intend to make you keep that promise."

Kyo sweats a little then quietly says "I... don't know where they are."

Aya looks at him mischievously and says "we~ll, I can see who holds the leash here."

Kyo launches a blast of energy at Aya, but she avoids it with ease while saying "whoa, whoa, heh heh heh, I was just kidding."

As she lands, she notices Kyo was worried, so she pats him on the shoulder and with a smile on her face says to him "relax. Let's just go look for them."

Kyo lifts his eyes and smiles, then nods at Aya. Without realizing it, Aya had taken a picture of him with some tears in his eyes as he launched the round energy at her.

She quietly pockets the picture and shouts "so, let's go look for the doll and the girl! Maybe have some fun while we're at it?"

Kyo angrily replies "I'm not taking my shirt off."

Aya replies "aww, come one. Those red palm trees don't even suit you!"

Reimu and Marisa were drinking tea inside the shrine, listening to the whole thing. Reimu casually says "it's gonna be a long day for him."

Marisa nods and says "who knows. Might actually be fun."

Maribel was laying on her belly right beside Marisa, as Marisa rubbed her ears, making her purr contently.

-

At the Moriya Shrine, Budou and Ail wave at Sanae, Kanako and Suwako as they enter one of Ail's gaps.

Budou shouts "see you later mama Sanny, granny Kanako, big sister Suwako. Take care"

All three Moriya residents wave back and shout "bye~ Have a safe trip." Suwako adds "come back soon, ok!?"

After the gap closes, Kanako strikes both Sanae and Suwako on the heads and says "so, had a good laugh at the expense of my status to that child, did you?"

Sanae giggles and sticks out her tongue then says "aww come on! Just admit you liked it already."

Kanako closes her eyes and frowns as she says "well... she is... very cute."

Suwako would say nothing and just stare at Kanako with and evil grin on her face.

Kanako looks back and hisses like a snake at Suwako, raising both arms above her head as if ready to strike, but she just takes a deep breath, relaxes, then says I'll be in the bathroom!"

Sanae looks at Kanako concerned, but Suwako says "let her be. She'll be just fine really soon, you'll see."

Somehow Sanae felt something odd about Suwako after she said that, but she just smiles and says " hope you're right, lady Moriya."

Inside the bathroom, Kanako looks at her self in the mirror. She looks closely, placing particular interest on her face. She was paying so much attention at the mirror,she didn't notice Suwako was right beside her, grinning as she stares.

Suddenly, giving Kanako the shock of her life, Suwako says "checking for crow's feet, grandma?"

Suddenly an explosion rattles the shrine. Sanae runs to the living room shouting "what's going on!? Lady Kanako!? Lady Suwako?"

Suddenly, Suwako runs past Sanae with a big grin on her face and laughing. Sanae looks confused as Suwako run away, then suddenly, a fire breathing enraged Kanako follows after Suwako, shouting curses and spitting fire.

She jumps outside the shrine, looks around, spots Suwako, who pulls her lower eye-lid and sticks her tongue out at her and runs some more, making Kanako angrily stomp on the ground, then chasing after her shouting "COME TO ME ONBASHIRA!!! Stop you warty old TOAD. I'm gonna EAT YOU~!"

Sanae panics and runs outside after Kanako and shouting "please, Lady Kanako, Lady Suwako, calm down! No, you're gonna break that! Sto~p!"

-

At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, after hanging all the clothes, Sakuya enters the mansion, followed shortly after by Yumeko, who was also being followed by Medicine and Luna. Agava had been watching them all from a safe distance.

She chuckles and thinks it's time to make her move, however, as soon as she takes one step forward, a familiar voice shouts "you sneaky shadow. Take THIS!"

A few icicles fly straight at Agava just as she turns around to see who it was, but ends up completely frozen inside a large ice cube.

Cirno flies straight at Agava with a smirk on her face, followed by Daiyousei.

"Cirno-chan, you're so amazing!" said Daiyousei in admiration toward Cirno, who was standing triumphantly on Agava's frozen body and shouting "I am the strongest in ALL Gensokyo!"

Daiyousei claps happily at Cirno and says "you certainly are, Cirno-chan!"

-

At Alice's house, Shanghai manages to finally wake up Alice, having tried all night so she could stop Yuki from raiding the food stores.

"Sh-Shanghai? *nnn~gh* What's the matter?" asks Alice as she gets up and stretches herself.

Shanghai manages to look at Alice with a very worried look on her lifeless face, then points outside the room with her tiny hand. Alice looks back a little concerned, then she hears something break in the kitchen. Her face turns pale as she remember she has two guests in her house... And it seems they stayed the night.

"Might as well face them already" thought Alice as she got up from bed, but before she got off, her door opens. It was Mai, carrying some tea and some breakfast on a large wooden tray.

She looks at Alice a little surprised and says "oh, good morning, Alice. I brought you some breakfast."

Another crash is heard from the kitchen. Mai gets annoyed, and Alice just looks on in discontent.

Mai places the tray on Alice's night table and says "just eat and let me take care of this. You gave us a good scare after you passed out like that."

Mai heads toward the door and shouts "Yuki! Stop breaking those plates!"

Alice petrifies just before taking a sip of tea, but Yuki replies "sorry... it's the same one as before anyway. It's already broken, so..."

Alice calms down, but was still so nervous, she trembles as she sips on her tea.

Mai walks to her and says "sorry for coming by like this... It was all Yuki's idea, sis."

Alice stops trembling and says "it's ok. But how did you two get here? Did Ail send you here by mistake too?"

Mai chuckles and says "no. Don't you know? The gate to Makai is open, so we can come in and out now. Reimu said it was ok."

Alice suddenly realizes what Mai said. The shock made her lose her grip on her cup of tea, letting it fall and crash on the ground.

From the kitchen Yuki shouts "that wasn't me~!"

Mai places her hand on Alice's shoulder and asks "Alice? What happened? What's the matter"

Alice turns her face to Mai, staring at her blankly, then asks "is--is Shinki allowed in here too?"

Mai smiles and says "well of course. She's the one that asked for the permission in the first place."

Alice continues to stare at Mai blankly, then turns her face to Shanghai and softly says "l-lady Shinki... Lady Shinki's coming to visit..."

Mai gets close looking at Alice very concerned.

"Alice?" asks Mai in a sweet tone as she gets closer, but suddenly Alice screams

"WAAAAAAH~!!! I gotta clean this place! Shanghai, Hourai!"

She springs off her bed and says to the dolls "you take the bathroom, I'll take the living room! Oh no, what about my work room!?"

Mai just stares as Alice continues blabbing on about cleaning, then calmly asks "do you want me to help?"

Alice's eyes were filled with panic as she looks at Mai and says "yes, yes please! That would be more grateful of me!"

Mai laughs and asks "are you still asleep?"

Alice yelps and shouts "I mean, I would be most grateful!"

Mai smiles and thinks "better get Yuki. It's gonna be a long one."

-

Back at the Scarlet Mansion, Sakuya enters a very long corridor and continues walking toward her destination as casually as ever. Yumeko waits until she's farther in before continuing her pursuit.

As soon as Sakuya was out of sight, she makes her move, but Sakuya was standing right next to her and in a very elegant tone she asks "may I be enlightened as to why you have been stalking me all this time?"

Yumeko yelps as her entire body shivers with a sudden shock. She turns to face Sakuya and calmly says "so you caught on I see. I'll get right to the point. I want to match out powers."

Sakuya smiles in an almost wicked way and says "well it just so happens that I wanted to match my powers against yours since we first met."

Yumeko smirks and says "it seems we think alike, miss Sakuya."

Sakuya smirks back and says "seems so."

Both maids already had their weapons at hand. Yumeko holding two daggers on each hand, Sakuya holding three knives on her left hand, and four on her right.

Both maids face off for a moment, both smiling at each other, then Sakuya says "since you're a guest here, I'll allow you the first move."

Yumeko chuckles and says "my, that's so kind of you. But very foolish!"

Yumeko tosses the daggers from her let and, then launches herself toward Sakuya with the daggers on her right. Sakuya deflects the airborne daggers by tossing her own knives from her right hand, then clashes against Yumeko's daggers, holding the blades back just inches from her face with her knives from the left hand.

She manages to push Yumeko back, then back-flips away, tossing 8 knives at her. Yumeko stops time around her and moves away, looking as though she had just teleported away, then materializes 10 daggers around Sakuya.

She stops time around her just as the daggers get close, gets out of the way, then unfreezes time again, looking as though she had just teleported as well.

Yumeko grins and says "so you weren't kidding. You can stop time too. This it going to be a very interesting match after all, wouldn't you agree?"

Sakuya grins and says "I must admit, I'm feeling exhilarated!"

-

At Alice's house, In just 1 hour, Alice, Mai and the dolls had already cleaned half of the house. Yuki spent all that time in the kitchen, watching Alice's dolls working around in a hurry.

She places her arms behind her head and says "I'm bored."

Alice walks to her quite annoyed and says "well, if you're so bored, why don't you help us CLEAN!?"

Yuki replies "are you nuts? That's boring. Besides, that's no way to treat a guest."

Alice grunts and lifts both hands in the air, suggesting great anger, but she was too concerned about the cleaning to deal with Yuki at the moment.

Mai gets close to Yuki and whispers "hey, Yuki. Don't you think you're pushing it a little too far?"

Yuki grins and says "what? No way. Besides, the place is already very clean to begin with."

While as Mai and Yuki have their conversation, Alice spots the plate Yuki had broken inside the trash bin. At first she ignores it, but she spots a small magenta flower design on it then takes a better look. Her lips start to tremble, then a single tear falls down her cheek. Suddenly she screams "YU~~KI~~~!!!"

Mai gets away from Yuki, saying "been nice knowing you, sis."

Yuki looks a little worried as she asks "wh-what is it?"

Alice's face was red with rage, her eyes were full of tears and she was clenching her fists as she glares at Yuki. Yuki realizes she DID go too far, specially now that many dolls with knives in their hands are flying around Alice, all with their sights fixed on her.

Alice grits her teeth and then shouts "that... was the plate... Lady Shinki gave me before I LEFT! How could you do that to me!?"

Yuki shakes with fear as she says "I-I-I... I'm sorry, i swear, I tried to fix it, but then it b-b-broke again."

As Yuki explains, Alice walks slowly, getting closer to Yuki with a murderous look in her eyes.

-

Outside Alice's house, the sun was shining brightly. It was a beautiful morning, and everything seemed so peaceful. Even the three mischievous fairies, Luna Child, Sunny Milk, and Star Sapphire, were having a peaceful stroll without playing any pranks. Suddenly, the door to Alice's house burst open with a loud blast that shakes the forest around Alice's house, causing all creatures nearby, even the three little mischievous fairies, to run away in a hurry.

Yuki jumps out of the way of various exploding dolls, heading outside the house, followed by Alice, who kept tossing doll, after doll, straight at Yuki.

Yuki flips out of range and smiles and says "fine, I'll play with you. But what hope do you have? I control fire. You attack with DOLLS. Doesn't take a genius to figure out, you're going to lose."

Alice smirks and chuckles lightly, sending various dolls, all spinning around with blades on their little hands. Yuki smirks back then shoots a large fireball at the dolls, however, all it did was knock out three of the many dolls.

She gulps and panics then shouts "th-that's cheating!"

Alice tosses the three dolls again, this time to the air. All stay floating there for a moment, then suddenly shoot thin red laser beams at Yuki. She tries to run away, but only manages to take a laser in the butt. She runs around in circles holding her behind with her hands, then stops and fans herself, watching as some smoke rises as she sizzles.

She smiles and says "wow, I'm hot. Get it?"

Alice was not amused. She grabs Shanghai, points her at Yuki, and a large violet beam fires straight at her.

She jumps out of the way saying "if that's how you wanna play, let's play!"

She smiles and starts sending various fireballs in straight lines and arcs, other in shapes of crosses and magic symbols. All turn to nothing after Alice shields herself with small dolls carrying large blue shields with them. Alice kept glaring at Yuki with a shadow around her eyes and an expressionless mouth.

She sends Hourai straight at Yuki, but the doll suddenly flies up just as Yuki shoots at it, then shoots various mid-sized multi-colored balls, all impacting straight on Yuki's face, sending her hat flying off.

Yuki grunts then says "ah, my hat! That's it sis! you're gonna GET IT!"

-

Back as the Scarlet Mansion, Sakuya and Yumeko continue their friendly battle.

"Illusion Existence - Clock Corpse" shouts Sakuya, stopping time and placing a curtain of knives around Yumeko.

For Yumeko, it all looked as though it happened in an instant, however she just smiles as the countless knives and crystal-shaped bullets fly toward her. Sakuya smirks as Yumeko also freezes time once more, surrounding Sakuya with her own daggers, and sending large energy orbs along the small blades.

Both maids get cut as they dodge and graze the blades, Yumeko getting grazed by her own, same as Sakuya.

After the daggers and knives stop falling, Sakuya and Yumeko smile at each other. Yumeko had a small cut on her cheek, trickling a little blood. Sakuya had a small cut on her left arm, however, both continue their match.

Sakuya grabs one of Yumeko's daggers from the ground, and Yumeko takes one of Sakuya's, then both lunge at each other, clashing the blades as soon as they meet face to face.

Grunting, Yumeko says "not bad at all, miss Sakuya. And those spell card things aren't as bad as I thought."

Sakuya smiles and grunts "maybe... you should get some yourself."

Both push each other back with great force, dropping their weapons as they fall. Sakuya flips back to her feet while Yumeko elegantly gets up with a smile.

Hiding close by, watching their battle were Luna and Medicine. Luna had a murderous look on her that was starting to scare Medicine.

"Luna, are you ok?" asks Medicine, showing true concern.

Luna looks at her, her eyes revealing madness and excitement as she replies "oh yes, I am GREAT. I am simply ecstatic!"

As Luna turns to watch the fight some more, Medicine feels very uneasy, but keeps quiet, watching Luna's face and wondering what was she thinking at the moment.

-

Back at Alice's house, the outside of the house was a complete mess. Yuki's fires and Alice's magic had the outside of the house house and it's surroundings destroyed and burned.

"Yuki! Just give up already!" shouts Alice, still looking enraged.

Yuki smiles as she shouts back "no way, sis. I'm having too much fun! What's next!?"

Alice growls then shouts "Shanghai, Hourai, let's show this idiot a thing or two! Curse Sign - Shanghai Doll! Curse Sign - Hourai Doll"

Six large violet lasers, a large one from Shanghai, the other Five from Hourai and four other copies of her, fly straight on to Yuki.

She smiles and tries to fly away, but she makes a wrong move and springs her ankle. She shouts in pain and falls to the ground, unable to run away, shouting in pain a second time as the beams strike her directly. After that, Yuki was lying on the ground, her face and clothes singed and sizzling, coughing up smoke, her face cringing in pain as she tries to move her foot.

Alice gets close to her, still looking furious. Yuki sits up and says "sis... you really let me have it."

She smiles, but her smile vanishes as soon as the pain around her ankle acts up. Alice showed no emotion in her face, but the anger in her eyes was evident. She quietly stares a Yuki for a moment, making Yuki very nervous.

"Er... sis? I'm sorry, it was an accident, I swear!"

Alice points at Yuki and says "get out of here."

Yuki gets surprised as Alice says those words. She chuckles and says "c-come on Alice. I said I was-"

Alice's face looks almost monstrous as she frowns and scowls with so much fury as she shouts at Yuki.

"Ever since you came here, you've been nothing but a pest, a pain, and a nuisance! I want you OUT of here."

Yuki tries to get up, but can't. She looks sadly at Alice and says "Alice... I swear I didn't-"

Alice shouts "I said get OUT of here, you PEST! Get out, go AWAY and NEVER come back!"

Yuki nervously chuckles, but stops as soon as she looks into Alice's eyes, feeling her heart being torn to pieces. She though Alice was just mad, but soon realized she meant those horrible things. Her eyes swell up and get filled with tears.

From the house, after hearing Alice say those thing, Mai shouts "Alice! Come on, you're being way too rough on her. Settle down!"

Yuki gets up, and with a cracking voice, holding back her desire to cry she shouts back to Mai "Mai, it's ok. I'll just go."

She limps to her hat and picks it up, almost falling down as she bends down to pick it up.

She puts on her hat and tries to cover her eyes as she turns around with a big smile and says "Alright, sis. I won't bother you ever again. I'm sorry for everything."

Before she flies away, Alice and Mai notice some tears falling from her cheeks as she lifts off from the ground, then flies away.

-

At the Scarlet Mansion, Sakuya and Yumeko smile at each other for a moment, then Sakuya says "one more time. After this I'm afraid the match must stop."

Yumeko smiles and nods replying "I agree."

Suddenly both maids lunge at each other, both throwing innumerable amounts of daggers and knives at each other. Both dodge them with ease, switching their battle positions after that barrage. The maids eye each other and smirk, however, when Sakuya comes into view, Luna's silver eyes glow with excitement.

She grabs one of her swords with her left hand and slowly unsheathes it. Medicine remembers how she used that black-gloved hand to cut open Su-san before.

She panics and nervously asks "wh-what are you doing?"

Suddenly Luna rushes to Sakuya and swings her blade.

Yumeko shouts "Sakuya, behind you!"

A loud "ugh", after a sword slash, followed by another sword slash that splatters blood all over the corridor, then Medicine screaming in horror and Yumeko looking on with terror on her face, followed by a thud on the carpeted floor, and an evil laugh.

-

Remilia suddenly wakes up feeling very agitated. She springs up from her bed, landing quickly on the ground and shouting "SAKUYA!"

She waits for a moment, but she didn't come. She feels great fear coming from her chest as she realizes Sakuya isn't coming.

"Sakuya~! Sakuya, I'm calling you!" shouts Remilia once more.

Suddenly, as if realizing something, she breaks open her door as she goes outside her room and at incredible speeds, she arrives at the corridor where the maids were battling before and finds Yumeko fighting for her own and for Sakuya's life, as the silver haired woman with the murderous face tries to kill Yumeko and finish off Sakuya.

Remilia opens her eyes widely when she spots Sakuya on the ground with a large gash on the right side of her hip, staining her floors in crimson.

Remilia takes a deep breath and shouts so loud, she was heard all the way back at the Hakurei Shrine "SAKUYA~~!".

-

Moments earlier at the Hakurei Shrine, Ail opens a gap next to the shrine and comes out with Budou next to him.

"Now Budou, you're going to meet some more of my friends, so try and keep calm, alright?" says Ail, followed by Budou's loud gulp.

They walk to the shrine's doors and inside were Reimu and Marisa, still sitting at the small table, Maribel, still laying on her stomach next to Marisa, Renko, and Mima, who were playing a quiet game of cards.

"Oh, Ail... and... who's this?" says Reimu after spotting Ail.

He waves back at them and says "hello guys. I want you to meet Budou. I found her inside my house earlier this morning."

Reimu gets closer and smiles as she says "well hello Budou. My name is Reimu."

Budou panics and shrieks as she tries to fly away, but Ail grabs her leg just before she flies away and calmly says "Budou, these are our friends. They won't hurt you."

Reimu watches them curiously as Ail tries to calm the little youkai down.

After finally calming her down, Budou enters the shrine along with Ail.

"This is Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, and Maribel" says Ail as he presents the three at the table.

Budou shy's away behind Ail's legs as Reimu and Marisa greet her.

She nervously gets out from behind Ail's legs and says "he-hello..."

Suddenly Mima shrieks and shouts "WOW~!!! She so ADORABLE!"

She rushes to little Budou, grabs her and hugs her tightly, rubbing her cheeks against hers and saying "so cute, so adorable. I wanna eat you up!"

After saying that, Budou starts to cry, startling Mima who asks "eh? What's this? Aww~ I didn't mean to make you cry little one."

Ail places the palm of his hand on his face and says "this is gonna take a while."

-

After calming Budou down yet again, Mima manages to make the little youkai giggle.

Renko gets close with a smile and says "hi, I'm Renko."

Budou stares at her and smiles and says "bookworm 2!"

Renko gets quite surprised and asks "bookworm?"

Budou giggles and says "yeah. You look smart. You must be bookworm 2, right papa Ail?"

Renko rushes to Ail with a murderous smile, and placing her face an inch away from his she asks "what have you been telling her, mister papa?"

Ail sweats and asks "aren't you a little close? I swear I haven't said anything to her. I don't know where she gets these things! Honestly!"

Renko backs away then says "you're LUCKY she's that cute... papa!"

Ail drops to the table and says "I must be old!"

Reimu and Marisa laugh, then Reimu points at Ail's boots. Ail looks at them and notices they were a complete mess and says "oh great... no wonder I was feeling a breeze."

Reimu giggles and says "and I see you're still wearing that same shirt Chen destroyed yesterday."

Ail raises his head and says "it's been on thing after another. I haven't had time to relax at all. I even had some trouble back at the village just moments ago."

Marisa asks "heh, what did you do?"

Ail sweats and says "Well, we were at the market, since it's empty at these hours, and Budou ate a fruit from one of the stands. The owner wasn't happy..."

Budou, who was still sitting on Mima's lap says "papa Ail is going to teach me about mon- err..."

"Money" says Ail, Budou immediately smiling and nodding, causing Mima to have a nosebleed and saying "so adorable."

Reimu's expression suddenly changes from friendly to dangerous and looks at Budou. For a moment, she felt something coming from her, but then suddenly the feeling was gone.

She thinks for a moment then asks "Budou? Do you know how old you are?"

Budou places her index finger, thinking for a moment. Mima flips her thumb upward at Reimu as she smiles, enjoying the pondering little bat, then suddenly, Budou starts flying in circles above Mima, then slowly comes back down, Mima immediately grabbing her and holding her against herself.

Budou then giggles and says "I'm 102 years old."

Reimu smiles and says "my, you're pretty young then, aren't you? But wait, how do you know?"

Budou thinks again for a moment then says because two years ago, this ghost said to me 'wow, you are 100 already' and then smiled... and then..."

Budou starts to sob and says "the needle... it hurts... take it away, please!"

Everyone gets very concerned, but Mima grabs the little youkai and says "there, there little one. There are no needles here."

Ail and Reimu look at each other and shrug, but before they could say anything, the bracelet on Ails right arm makes a loud *plop* sound. Ail and Reimu look at it for a moment, then another loud *plop*, along with a magical image of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Reimu, Renko and Ail look at each other and Reimu asks "already?"

Ail says "something's not right."

Reimu shouts "Renko, Maribel, stay here. Marisa..."

Renko and Maribel, who gets up from the floor, nod just as Marisa says "I'm still too weak, so I'll have to sit this one out."

Ail then says "Budou, stay here. Don't worry, they will keep you safe. Alright?"

Mima smiles and says "don't worry about her. I'll keep a close eye on her."

Budou stares at Mima for a moment and says "ok. I'll stay with mommy number 2"

Mima shrieks again and says "you're so CUTE! Of course you can call me 'mommy'!"

Ail sweats a little and was about to say something when they hear Remilia's scream of rage.

Reimu hurriedly shouts "Ail!"

"On it!" quickly replies Ail, opening a gap straight inside the mansion. Reimu and Ail go inside, then the gap closes.

-

At the mansion, Medicine was looking at Sakuya with a very sad expression as Yumeko and Patchouli tend to her wounds.

Remilia was trying to claw Luna, but she was too fast and was able to match all of Remilia's movements with ease.

Remilia was getting furious and shouts "MEILING~! COME IN HERE NOW!"

A second before Meiling enters, Ail and Reimu spring from inside the gap right into the middle of the battle. Reimu gasps after spotting Sakuya, then looks at Remilia and Luna, noticing the blood on Luna's left blade and glove then quietly asks "Luna?"

Ail was already heading toward Remilia to lend a hand, placing a barrier on each arm. Just before Luna lands her blade on Remilia's neck, Ail uses his barrier-covered hand to stop the blade. Luna growls and wildly swings her swords, trying to hit Ail, however Meiling immediately joins in as soon as she enters through the main doors.

Ail places barriers around Meiling's arms and says "for blocking!" then continues to defend himself from Luna's rage.

Meiling is able to land a quick blow on Luna, sending her back with great force. Meanwhile, Reimu, Patchouli and Yumeko try their best to stop Sakuya from bleeding to death.

Reimu asks "What are you doing here?"

Yumeko quickly replies "I swear, Reimu, we were just having a friendly match when that woman came and tried to cut her in half!"

Reimu looks at Luna quite angrily, then gets up and pulls out a lot of needles form under her sleeve and flies toward the battle. Luna manages to thrust her sword into Meiling's shoulder, then manages to slash Ail's arm, thankfully it was not a serious cut.

Remilia launches at Luna with speed, but Luna crosses her blades, sending a shock wave toward Remilia, making her flinch, then taking advantage and shooting many of those colorful knives toward the vampire. Reimu quietly tosses her needles, managing to land two of them on Luna's arms, just as she deflected the rest.

Luna takes the small break she just got and jumps from the second floor back to the first, then runs outside, escaping the heated battle.

-

Ail shouts "who the HELL was THAT!?"

Reimu says "that was Luna. Kyo's friend."

Ail gets shocked and asks "THAT is Luna!?"

Remilia shouts "Sakuya, don't DIE!"

Reimu, Ail and Meiling immediately rush to Sakuya.

Patchouli was calmly saying "my lady, please calm down. She's going to be alright. She lost a lot of blood, but she'll live. Oh, Ail, you're back."

After noticing Ail, Patchouli's cheeks turn pink, however she hides her face by looking at Sakuya.

Meiling says "let's take her to her room."

Patchouli then says "please wait a little longer. We only just stopped the blood. We need to wait a little more."

Sakuya coughs and weakly says "my-my lady. I'm sorry."

Remilia holds Sakuya's face and says "it's ok Sakuya. You'll be ok!"

Sakuya closes her eyes and lays unconscious on the floor. Reimu spots Medicine, who was frozen in shock, just staring at Sakuya.

Reimu asks "Medicine, what happened?"

Medicine panics and trembles as everyone's eyes were upon her. Reimu places a charm on her own hand, then pats Medicine on the head saying "calm down. Please just tell us what happened here."

She notices Medicine looking at her hand and says "you know you're poisonous. It's the only way I can get close to you."

Medicine gulps as Su-san grabs on to her shoulder, as if trying to hug her.

She takes a deep breath and says "we... she told me we were going to do a prank, but then she saw Sakuya and started smiling. It was scary. I asked her if she was ok, and she said that she was, but when Sakuya and the other maid were battling, she just took her sword and tired to kill her."

Reimu and Ail look at each other for a moment, then Ail says "I better tell Kyo about this."

Reimu grabs his hand and shouts "NO! You're his best friend. You'll only manage to get hurt... both of you."

Ail replies "you got a point."

By now, Meiling and some fairy maids come by with a stretcher and take Sakuya away to her room. Remilia thanks Ail and Reimu for their assistance, looks at Yumeko and silently bows her head, Yumeko bowing down, lifting her skirt lightly as she did, then Ail opens a gap to the shrine and says "let's go back and tell the others."

Reimu nods, then grabs Medicine by her hand saying "come with us, please." then Ail signals Yumeko to follow in as well.

-

At the shrine, after having told everyone what had happened, Mima grabs hold of Budou and says "if that evil woman thinks she's getting close to little Budou, she's got another thing coming! Right?"

Budou giggles and says "right!"

All but Reimu and Ail blush at the sight, Yumeko almost having a nosebleed, and Medicine feeling a little sick.

Medicine gets close to Budou and asks "how can you even reply to that like that? Show some backbone!"

Budou looks curiously at Medicine, but Medicine didn't like it, so she raises her arms and says "BOO!"

Budou jumps in place then start to sob, then cries, pressing her face on to Mima's chest saying "tiny meanie".

Mima glares at Medicine, and Ail gets really close, his eyes were shining white as he said "you have a death wish?"

Medicine sweats a little and says "geez, sorry, I'm sorry."

Reimu then says "Medi... is there anything else you could tell us about Luna's attack?"

Medicine gets a little depressed then lightly shakes her head, looking at the floor when she stops.

Reimu sighs and says "it's ok. I know it's not your fault."

Medicine sniffles for a moment, then she raises her head and angrily shouts "right, I helped you already, so I'm going home now!"

She storms out of the shrine, crying as she did, Su-san trailing closely behind. Ail goes outside to watch the little dolls fly away, then notices Yuki flying by, heading back to Makai. Ail was about to wave at her, but notices she was crying too.

Ail turns to face the others at the shrine and says "seems it's been a hard one for many. And it's only mid-day by now."

All inside sigh then Ail says "Reimu, with Sakuya out of the way, already things have changed."

Reimu nods and says "we'll have to be extra careful now."

Maribel smiles and says "don't worry guys. Ail's bracelet will warn us. Just like it did now."

Ail looks at the bracelet, then Reimu says "what an interesting trinket that one, right Ail?"

Ail nods as he continues to stare at the bracelet. Suddenly, Budou yawns and says "papa Ail, can we go home now?"

Mima almost had a nosebleed, but stopped when Yumeko fired up a jet stream of blood from her nose.

Ail looks at Budou curiously and says "sure. Besides, I need a change of clothes... and shoes."

Budou, looking very sleepy, stumbles toward Ail, then as Ail opens the gap and waves everyone goodbye, Budou yawns again and falls completely asleep while leaning on him.

Ail smiles and says "ah, not a care in the world, huh?" then enters his gap with Budou on his hands.

-

After Ail leaves, Marisa says "seems you guys are waiting for something to happen, ze?"

Reimu sighs and says "yeah... sorry we can't say more... but I hope we can count on your help, right? You too, Mima."

Mima nods and says "as long as you let me stay outside that room, I'll help. And if you pay me, I'll help even more, fu, fu, fu~"

Reimu chuckles then says "I don't think so."

Mima shrugs, then Marisa laughs and says "you guys... Reimu. I'm sorry for earlier."

Reimu pats her on the back and says "you still thinking about that. Here!"

She slaps an open palm on Marisa's back, making her squeal in pain, then laughs and says "now we're even, alright?"

Marisa glares at Reimu while rubbing her back, then the others laugh.

Yumeko walks to Reimu and says "please, miss Reimu, don't be mad at us. I didn't mean that to happen to Sakuya, I just-"

Reimu raises her hand in mid air and says "Yumeko, you better go back. Shinki must be worried by now. Don't worry. Just remember to keep your numbers low when you come visit, alright?"

Yumeko elegantly bows, raising her skirt a little, then heads outside and flies directly to the gate back home. Suddenly Reimu feels in her heart a strong emotion. Sadness and despair, all coming from one source. At first she thought it was Yumeko, however she feels it comes from the Forest of Magic, then thinks of Budou.

She keeps quiet for a moment, but then Marisa shakes her a little, asking "hey, Reimu. What's the matter?"

Reimu holds her head for a moment, then says "oh, nothing. Just though I sensed something."

Marisa stares at Reimu for a moment then says "I think our little battle left us both a little too tired."

Reimu nods and smiles as she says "yeah. I think we should rest."

Mima shouts "finally, some REST!" then Reimu smirks and says "not yet. You three still haven't swept the shrine from the leaves, and SOMEONE has to go buy some more food. It's almost winter and we need to stock up now."

Maribel, Renko and Mima line up in front of Reimu, salute her and shout "aye-aye SIR!" then scatter all around the shrine with brooms.

-

At Makai, just as Yumeko enters, she finds Shinki comforting Yuki neat the gate, who was crying uncontrollably, apologizing to Shinki over and over.

Yumeko tries to apologize for being away to Shinki, but Shinki says "it's ok Yumeko. Come, help me with Yuki. Something happened, but she won't tell me what. She's just saying she's sorry all the time."

Yumeko smiles in a motherly fashion and says "ahh, Yuki. Let's see what happened now."

Sara looks at the scene but says to herself "better not get involved. Now, time to go back to my original post. Hup!"

She gets inside the gate and goes straight back to Gensokyo's end of the gate. She looks around and says "hmm~, let's see. I think it was around here. Ah, got it!"

She feels around the right side of the gate until she grabs hold of some cloth.

She pulls tightly on it revealing a large house and says "WOW! Just like I left it. I can't believe nobody found this."

-

At Alice's house, Mai was trying to ignore Yuki's leaving like she did, Alice was feeling sorry for what she did and said to Yuki, but continued to clean her house, now adding to the list, rebuilding a whole lot of the house from outside.

At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia couldn't sleep, and stayed watching over Sakuya, while at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu kept feeling something was wrong, and kept thinking of Budou, while at Ail's house, Ail had finished preparing a bath for himself, and Budou had hung herself from one of the tallest parts of the ceiling around the kitchen, wrapped her wings around herself and fell asleep.

-

To be continued...

Characters, spell cards and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and Budou were created by Willie G.R.

AUG 26 2009

written by

Willie G.R


	14. Chapter 13

And so, Alice couldn't take it anymore and gave more and just an earful to Yuki, sending her literally crying back home.

Reimu can't shake off the sudden bad feelings she's been sensing. For some reason, she keeps thinking of Budou when this happens, but she knows Budou is very young and not powerful at all, and yet...

Remilia is taking care of Sakuya now, Luna is on the lose after having tried to murder Sakuya, Kyo and Aya continue their search, and Medicine returns to the Nameless Hill, feeling a little scared and heartbroken at the same time.

Even with all this happening, Ail finally returns home with Budou, who goes to sleep, hanging from the tallest parts of the ceiling, while Ail prepares himself a bath.

-

Finally, Ail is able to relax and take a much needed bath. He thinks on the events that had just happened, and the events to follow. To him, something didn't seem to add up, but then he remembers how fate likes to play the same hand, even if with different cards.

He sighs then slowly sinks under the hot bubbly water, then comes back out and sits with his back against the edge of the large tub, when suddenly, he opens his eyes, and was met with a pair of maroon eyes and a whimsical voice that says "my, my, my~, that looked like it was good. Do it again."

Ail yelps and shouts "Yuyuko! What are you doing in here?"

He tries his best to hide himself, using the bubbles around to cover himself. Yuyuko smiles and says "don't forget to wash behind those ears."

From the Kitchen, Youmu calls "Yuyu-sama~! Where are you?"

Ail gets a little annoyed and says "could you please go outside while I finish here?"

Yuyuko's smile vanishes when she asks "so you want some privacy?"

Ail nods then Yuyuko says "well wouldn't you rather have a beautiful woman like myself clean your body instead? It's every man's dream, right?"

Ail's face turns beet red and his eyes get covered in a dark shadow after Yuyuko says this, while she holds a bar of soap and a bath brush on her hands.

She giggles and says "ahh I see. A fantasy perhaps?"

Ail gets angry and shouts "would you PLEASE just get OUT of here!?"

From outside Youmu asks "Yuyu-sama, you're not invading Ail's private moment, right?"

Ail gets petrified then asks "how does Youmu know?"

Yuyuko gets a little sad and says "and I was really hoping to wash your back at least. Oh well, I guess there will be no show after all."

After saying that, she leaves the bathroom, then Ail, who's eyes were still surrounded in shadow says "show? Yu-kari~!"

He looks above him and notices a gap closing. He smirks, a glint escaping from his teeth as he opens one of his own gaps and fires a laser in.

Yukari yelps in pain as the laser strikes her butt. She rubs herself and says "ow~! That's a tender area."

Ran, while drinking some tea in the living room, casually says "that's what you get for peeping."

-

After the bath, Ail wraps a towel around his waist then goes to his room and opens up a closet that was FULL of black pants and violet shirts.

He looks at them for a moment and says "ah, these ones."

He takes the ones in the middle, and behind them was Yuyuko again, smiling and saying "I would suggest the ones on the right. They look more fresh."

Ail smiles and slowly closes the closet doors and places a large barrier to prevent Yuyuko from escaping, then gets dressed beside the doors, so Yuyuko couldn't see.

After putting one some socks, he lets Yuyuko out and immediately she asks "hey, how do you do that?"

Ail looks at her curiously and asks "do what?"

Yuyuko replies "keeping your underwear and pants together like that? It would save me some time when getting dressed."

Ail thinks for a moment and says "I'll tell you later."

After that, they head to the living room, where Youmu had prepared some tea already.

She bows and says "hope you don't mind."

Ail smiles and says "not at all... 5 cups? Why the 2 extra?"

Youmu rubs the back of her head and says "well, one is for the little bat, in case she wake up."

"And the other?" asks Ail.

Youmu eyes Yuyuko, who smiles and nods. Yuyuko then says "for Yukari."

Ail smirks and says "ahh right. Yukari, you can come out now... or would you rather have another laser?"

From a gap just next to his door, Yukari pops out her head saying "you're messing with the bull, kid!"

Ail smiles and replies "and I just so happen to have a nifty trick to deal with the horns."

Yukari sweats, but then giggles and says "so seems you finally recovered your other half?"

Ail shakes his head and says "not exactly", then shows them all his bracelet.

After looking at it for a moment, Yukari smiles and says "I see Reimu added the Hakurei blessing. Did it take you long?"

Ail smiles and says "actually, she did it all on her own. A little too quickly I might add."

Yukari opens her fan and covers her mouth and nose, looking at Ail directly at his eyes from over the fan and asks in a sinister tone "and that girl?"

Ail keeps quiet for a moment, then he places a barrier around his house and then says "we're gonna have to talk about that."

A scratching sound took everyone's attention, then Ail looks at the ceiling and notices Budou had moved from the kitchen.

He smiles and flies up to her and says "it's ok, Budou. Come down and say hello to everyone."

Budou slowly opens her wings, then stretches and says "sorry papa Ail, I was curious."

Ail smiles and says "it's ok. Just come down and say hello. I'm sure they all want to meet you."

After Ail and Budou come down, Yukari's cheeks turn pink upon seeing the little youkai.

Nervously, Budou presents herself. "H-hi... I'm, er, I'm Budou."

She blushes and looks away as Youmu gets closer with a smile and says "I'm Youmu, and this is Yuyuko. Nice to meet you."

Yuyuko pats Budou on the head and says "my, so adorable", as Budou asks "m-miss Youmu? What's that white thing around you?"

Youmu smiles and says "that's my ghost half."

Just like that, Yukari grabs Budou from behind, scaring her a little and says "Ail, how dare you hide her from me!?"

Ail smiles as Budou calms down and stares at Yukari for a moment.

Yukari hugs her tightly and says "you're such a cutie, aren't you?"

Budou blinks and then smiles while saying "lady gramma~!"

Yukari shocks to the point of turning to stone, then Ail says "ok, enough... we need to have a little chat. All of us."

-

At Makai, Yuki had finally calmed down, and Yumeko was just finishing with bandaging her ankle. She wouldn't speak; just stares out the window, thinking to herself, trying to find a reason to smile, but all she could think of was Alice shouting at her with rage.

"There, I'm done." says Yumeko, cutting off the excess bandage.

Yuki looks at her foot, looking lost in thought.

Yumeko looks at her with concern and asks "won't you tell us what happened?"

Yuki was just about to speak when Shinki enters the room. Yuki gulps and shuts her mouth, looking away, back outside the window.

Shinki feels awkward then asks "I-I'm sorry, did I interrupt something? I can leave if you-"

"No, please. I'm sorry Lady Shinki. Please, stay." replies Yuki, quickly turning to face her, almost crying again.

Shinki was surprised. Yuki answered in such an elegant fashion.

"This is so unlike her" though Shinki, then she says "ok, I'll stay then" as she smiles, but Yuki did not return the smile.

Yumeko notices and asks one more time "Yuki, child, what happened to you?"

Yumeko stares at Yuki for a moment then says "if it's about going to Gensokyo, it's alright. I went there too, and nobody's mad at me... nobody's mad at you either."

Yuki's eyes fill with tears as she asks "am I a nuisance?"

Both Shinki and Yumeko looks at each other surprised, then look at Yuki almost frightened to ask any more but Yumeko pulls out a dagger and asks "who said that to you? Just tell me and I'll teach them a lesson in MANNERS!"

Yuki starts to sob now, so Shinki pulls Yumeko's dagger away and whispers at Yumeko "you made her cry again."

Yumeko whispers back "someone made her cry like that... that someone has to pay, my lady!"

Shinki whispers back "no, no. Let the child speak before doing anything. You're scaring her."

Yumeko whispers back "as you wish, my lady, but she just won't talk to us."

Suddenly Shinki smiles and says "ah, Yumeko, let's leave Yuki to rest. She seems to have had a very bad day. Yuki, dear, go to bed and sleep."

At first Yumeko didn't get her lady's sudden change of interest, but suddenly catches on and says "right. Yuki, please rest. I'll prepare a bath for you and come get you later, alright?"

Yuki stares angrily and asks again "am I a nuisance!?"

Shinki immediately says "Yuki, you are NOT a nuisance. You're just a very happy and energetic girl."

Yumeko smiles and says "yeah. Others would call you that, but deep down you can be sure they are just jealous."

Yuki smiles as some tears fall from her cheeks and says "thank you." then gets up from the chair and limps to her bed, where she immediately closes her eyes and says "please, leave the curtains open... and thanks."

Surprised, Yumeko and Shinki quietly head outside the room, closing the door as quietly as they could, then look at each other with concern, then Yumeko says "so polite and calm. That's not Yuki, my lady."

Shinki replies "don't worry. I think I know how to get our Yuki back. It's gonna have to wait until tomorrow. She's too upset to do anything now."

-

Noon at Gensokyo, at the Nameless Hill, Medicine was sitting on the ground, hiding herself among the many poisonous flowers while hugging her knees tightly as Su-san patted her on the head.

Everything was quiet until a familiar voice says "I've been looking all over for you, you idiot! Did that armpit girl give you any trouble?"

Medicine raises her head with fury in her eyes and shouts "you IDIOT! What's the matter with you!? I though you said we were going to prank them, not KILL them!"

A few feet away from Medicine, Luna stands still, holding her hip with her right hand, staring back at Medicine with a smile.

She flips her hair with her left hand and says "hmph! That was nothing. That woman will be up again by morning."

Medicine springs up, clenching her tiny fists and shouting "that is NOT funny, you! That was SCARY! Don't EVER do that again!"

Luna chuckles as she gets closer and says "why? Are you gonna stop me? Think you have what it takes?"

Medicine backs away, feeling something was wrong, then notices Luna caressing her sword with that left hand of hers.

Luna looks back, noticing the little doll's frightened look and says "what... you fear this? Good. that means you really are alive, doesn't it?"

Medicine continues to back away as Luna keeps getting closer. Su-san gets in front of Luna and spreads her tiny arms and legs, as if trying to protect Medicine.

Luna smirks and asks "what? You want another trip to the doll-maker?"

The doll trembles a bit, but holds her position. Luna grabs the hilt of her blade, but before she unsheathes it, from behind her Kyo shouts "LUNA~! Medicine~! Boy, you two sure are HARD to find!"

He and Aya were flying above the poisonous flower fields, looking down at them. Kyo had changed his clothes to a black muscle shirt, black pants and belt, and his button shirt was plaid-blue now.

From the ground, Luna shouts "you DIDN'T let that bird-girl watch you change, right!?"

Kyo sweats a little and says "well of COURSE not! You'd think I was some kind of lecher or something!"

Aya shouts "HEY! I'm a reporter, not a pervert!"

Luna glares at both then says "fine, whatever. What do you want with us?"

Aya responds "you have a promise to keep. And if you want those photos destroyed, you better KEEP your word!"

Medicine flies toward them, then clings on to Kyo's arm. He feels a slight tingle on his arm and asks "what the-? Poison?"

Medicine lets go of his arm and says "sorry... I-"

Kyo pats her on the head and says "it's alright. I have some resistance to poison, but seems not like Luna. Not yet at least."

Luna jumps up and flips in the air, Kyo swoops down and grabs her and says "well, shall we go then?"

Luna sighs and says "that pervert's got me trapped. I have no choice here."

Aya flinches and says "I said I'm a REPORTER!"

Medicine shyly asks "c-can I stay here?"

Aya smirks and says "no way. You're a witness after all."

Medicine fills with panic and remembers the incident at the mansion. She sighs and says "a-alright. I-I'm coming"

Aya stares at her as they fly to the Youkai Mountain and says "you don't have to sound THAT disappointed."

-

At the Moriya Shrine, Sanae, Suwako and Kanako were covered in bumps, bruises, burn marks, bandages, and their clothes were in tatters.

Sanae looks disappointed as she said "sometimes I wonder if you are gods, or just brats!"

Suwako says "Auuu~! You don't have to say it like that."

Kanako then says "we're sorry, Sanae."

Sanae sighs and says "fine. I suppose I'll go prepare dinner then. Just no more fighting, please, I don't think I could take it."

Suwako and Kanako look at the ground as they both say "okay. Sorry Sanae."

Sanae stares at them for a moment, then heads to the kitchen.

As soon as she's out of sight, Suwako whispers "hey, gramma. Your aim was of by miles. Need glasses now?"

Kanako strikes Suwako with her fist on the head, then says "how about I dine on frog legs tonight? Oh, that's right, I don't like old, strained MEAT!"

Sanae suddenly peeks her head from the kitchen door to see if something was up, but all she sees is two seemingly well-behaved gods sitting next to each other, waving at her and smiling. Sanae smiles at them, then heads back inside the kitchen.

Suwako strangle-holds Kanako and says "I still look WAY better than you.!"

Kanako escapes the hold, then traps Suwako in a figure-four leg-lock and says, while pointing at her own chest "well, at least I got a pair of THESE, while you're as flat as a board!"

Again, Sanae peeks out and says "I keep hearing noises. Is everything ok in here?"

Suwako and Kanako both force a smile that looked evil, however Sanae didn't seem to notice as Suwako tells her "oh, that? That was nothing. Just some random noise."

Sanae looks at both suspiciously, but then smiles and says "well, dinner's gonna be ready soon." then goes back into the kitchen.

Suwako and Kanako glare at each other, then Kanako says "might as well get the table ready."

Suwako nods and says "fine. I'm kinda hungry anyway."

They prepare the table and sit facing each other.

Suwako mumbles something that sounded like "old hag", however what she really said was "so hungry".

Kanako takes offense and says "you shapeless bullfrog!" as she spring up and launches toward Suwako.

When Sanae enters the living room with dinner in her hands, she sees Kanako, biting hard on Suwako's leg, while Suwako was biting hard on Kanako's elbow.

She giggles and says "my, and I though I was hungry. Dinner's served everyone!"

Kanako and Suwako look at each other and realize what Sanae meant. They both spit in disgust then immediately sit by the table and say "thanks for the food, Sanae" at the same time.

-

At Alice's house, Mai, Alice and her dolls had all finished the cleaning and repairs, and were enjoying a drink and some vegetable stew. Alice was quiet, lost in distant though.

Mai was staring at her quietly for a while then suddenly asks "you're feeling sorry you said all that to Yuki, aren't you, sis?"

Alice closes her eyes and rests her head on her hand, as she rested her elbow on the table.

She sighs and says "yeah. She just made me so mad, you know? But I said all that stuff... kind of hard to take all that back now."

Mai drinks from a cup then says "Yuki isn't one to hold a grudge, and she's really easy to please, so even a silly apology might do. But..."

Alice grabs hold of Shanghai and starts cleaning her face, making the doll close her eyes tightly and struggle to push Alice's hand away.

Alice looks at Mai and asks "you're thinking the same as I am, aren't you?"

Mai then says "I've never seen her that upset before. I think you really hurt her. I mean, I know she can be a pain, but that was just way too harsh, even if she had it coming."

Alice sighs and takes a sip from a cup, then looks inside it while saying "and she really did try to fix that plate too. Oh, what am I going to do? She just pushed me to do it, and now I feel sorry."

Mai giggles and says "sis, when you live with someone like Yuki for so long, you learn to expand your limits. And I think this lesson will be good for both of you?"

Alice looks at Mai with curiosity as Mai smiles and says "first of all, Yuki needs to start behaving like a lady a little more, and you seem to need to learn to expand that limited patience of yours. The way I see it, both of you are learning something very valuable here."

Alice gets annoyed and shouts "I have great patience! You think making all these dolls doesn't require patience!?"

Mai smiles and says "why are you shouting? I'm right here."

Alice realizes she got mad rather quickly and had raised her voice already.

Mai simply smiles and says "and so, the learning begins, doesn't it?"

Alice looks at Mai, but doesn't say a word, and just sits back down with a blank stare as Shanghai and Hourai both hover just above her with sad looks on their somewhat lifeless faces.

-

Night at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Meiling had just locked the gate and heads inside, giving the shivering Agava a chance to slip in, however she was still a little frozen, hindering her mobility a little, and misses her chance to get inside the mansion.

She sighs and kneels with her back to the wall of the mansion and thinks "blasted witch! Stupid fairy!! If I ever get my powers back, I'm gonna make them PAY."

She stands up and poses with anger, her fists clenched tightly, shaking them in the air.

She points to the skies with a sparkle in her eyes and thinks "I'll take that witch's broom and stick it to her, and then take that ice fairy, rip those damned wings off and stuff them down her throat!"

By now, she was doing heroic poses as she though about what to do to them.

"It'll be my GLORIOUS return to power, and not even that shrine maiden will be able to stop me!"

Agava was smiling toward the skies with her hand raised to her chest, a twinkle in her eyes, and a little blond vampire with prism-shard wings watching her with the outmost of curiosity. When Agava realizes she was being watched, she sweats, composes herself and clears her throat.

"*Ahem* What? Never seen someone stretch before? And who the hell are you?"

Flandre stares at Agava and says "you know, you're the intruder here in my home, so I should be asking YOUR name... but I remember you, little miss Agava. Now, tell me why shouldn't I just break you right now?"

Agava shivers and thinks "crap, it's that little power-crazy vampire... what to do, what to do?"

After thinking some more, Agava smiles and says "I was just bored and wanted to play with someone."

Flandre smiles excitedly and with much glee in her voice she asks "REALLY~!? You wanna play~!?"

For a moment, Agava though she had just said the complete opposite of what she wanted to achieve, particularly after seeing Flandre's eyes glow scarlet, and her grin turning to that of a wicked smile, but suddenly Flandre says "oh, that's right. I can't play right now. Our maid got sick and onee-sama said she wanted quiet or else!"

Agava takes a sigh of relief then out of curiosity she asks "or else what?"

Flandre looks at Agava casually and counts with her fingers as she says "well, there's the boiling oil bath, the fire chamber, the spiked doll, the watery grave, the sandy mouth... Actually she hasn't done the sandy mouth in ages. Maybe I should remind her."

Agava was breathing heavily with great fear, her eyes covered in a dark shadow while she says "*pant* d-don't. I-It might be *pant* bad for you."

Flandre smiles and says "well... we could play with my dollies... as long as you don't break them."

Agava snickers and says "yeah... dollies. That sounds like fun."

Flandre giggles and flaps her wings rapidly with excitement as she says "yay~! Finally, someone to play with. come on, come on! Let's go inside."

And so Flandre pulls Agava inside the mansion, unaware of the dangers of doing so. Agava smiles with evil intent in her eyes as she is pulled inside the mansion to 'play'.

-

At Sakuya's room, Remilia had fallen asleep while watching over Sakuya. Patchouli had insisted Sakuya would be just fine, but Remilia refused to leave her side.

Slowly waking up, groaning as she stretched her arms and wings, Remilia thinks "shit, I fell asleep. I can't believe this."

She yawns and says "I should be stronger than this."

Remilia Realizes Sakuya had barely opened her eyes and was looking at her.

"Sakuya, you're alright!" says Remilia with a smile.

Sakuya weakly smiles back and softly says "sorry... my lady... for... inconveniencing you... again."

Remilia smiles and says "just you worry on getting strong again, Sakuya. And don't worry. I'll hunt that human down to the ends of the earth, and drain every last drop of blood from her body!"

Sakuya tries to laugh, but manages to hurt herself, cringing in pain.

"Ah, Sakuya, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you hurt!" nervously says Remilia.

Sakuya continues to smile after the pain was gone and says "my lady... you are most... kind. Let me... take care of... that girl... my lady."

Remilia looked almost disappointed. She wanted to destroy that human with her bare hands, but she didn't want to make Sakuya worry at the moment, so she keeps quiet.

Just then, Patchouli enters the room and says in the most casual voice "well, it seems you have made a quick recovery. Admirable as always, miss Sakuya."

She had with her a couple of fairy maids, each with a cup of tea. One helps Sakuya drink hers, while the other respectfully serves Remilia her tea.

Remilia smiles as she sips on her tea and says "you came prepared, I see."

Patchouli causally looks back at Remilia and says "I just estimated it would be around this time when miss Sakuya would wake up. And Remi, you stayed up all day, so I was sure even you would need a little something too."

Remilia smiles and says "ah, sometimes I wonder what would I ever do without you two."

Patchouli and Sakuya look at each other for a moment, just before Sakuya lies back down on her bed, then Patchouli replies "survive, Remi. Just like you did before meeting us."

Remilia stares blankly at Patchouli for a moment, then replies "if it is like those times, perhaps is best if I turn you both to vampires right now."

Patchouli looks back at Remilia most seriously and asks "could you?"

Remilia looks away, her cheeks turning red with anger as she says "m-maybe! If I wanted to!"

-

At Ail's house, Yuyuko and Youmu were leaving through one of Yukari's gaps back home when Yuyuko says to Ail in a most serious tone "...and if something else happens you come and tell me, got that!? Don't keep things like that from me, young man!"

Ail looks a little annoyed and says "alright, alright, I will, I promise."

After that, Yuyuko and Youmu enter the gap, then Yukari closes it quickly.

After that Yukari asks "are you sure it's ok to have let that little one listen to our conversation?"

Ail smiles and says "don't worry. She fell asleep almost as soon as we started talking."

They look at Budou as she softly snores on Ail's sofa, her left arm hanging from the edge, and her wings contracted so they wouldn't hurt her.

Yukari's cheeks turn pink as she watches the little youkai sleep, but then turns to Ail and says "well, you keep a close eye on her and tell me if anything else happens, alright?"

Ail nods and says "will do."

Yukari turns around and opens a gap back home, then as she enters she says "I'll see you later then. Oh, and I recommend the OTHER brand of bath bubbles. They last less."

Ail shakes his fist at her and says "will you go home already!?"

Yukari glances at him, then closes her gap before he fires another laser at her.

Ail sighs and removes the barrier around his home, then looks around, gets a blanket and covers Budou, then goes to his room, and lies on his bed, but is unable to close his eyes, thinking about all that was going on at once.

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Mima and Maribel were already asleep, Mima holding on to Maribel, petting her cat-ears, even while sleeping. Renko and Reimu were waving at Marisa as she left.

"Are you sure you're gonna be ok, Marisa?" asks Reimu.

Marisa smiles and says "don't worry about me, ze. I'm already feeling much better. But Reimu, there's something I have to tell you."

Reimu gets closer and asks "what is it?"

Renko was about to leave, but Marisa says "you too, Renko. Listen, I don't know how, but yesterday, Agava was at my house, and she was able to ready my thoughts as if they were her own. Not only that, but I think she learned how to manipulate whatever feeling you are experiencing at the moment. I'm not kidding, Reimu! This is very dangerous."

Reimu thinks for a moment and says "hmm... I don't believe she's regained any of her former powers, but it is possible she's learning new abilities on her own. Besides, I don't think she knows about the guar-"

Marisa shushes her and says "don't say that out loud! If she finds out about that now we'll be in trouble."

Reimu then says "maybe that's the strange feeling I've been sensing since this morning."

Marisa snaps her fingers saying "exactly, da~ze."

Renko then says "this is getting more complicated. Reimu, what if all these things are related?"

Reimu stares toward the stars and says "if they are, then we have much more to deal with than we though. Marisa, I'm going to have a word with SikiEiki. I believe we will need your help, and it would certainly help you if you knew what we're up against."

Marisa smiles and says "well, I already promised I'd help you, whether I know what's going on or not, right?"

Renko and Reimu smile at her, then she gets on her broom, quietly waves at them, then slowly flies back home.

Renko asks Reimu "seems she's still not fully recovered. Aren't you going with her?"

Reimu smiles and asks "why are you worrying? I though you didn't like Marisa."

Renko blushes a bit and says "well, I may not like her, but it's not like I want her to get hurt either."

Reimu wraps her arm around Renko's neck and says "just keep a close eye on Maribel. After what Ail and Siki told us about her, I'm a little worried about her. Marisa can take good care of herself, but Maribel needs you the most. Maybe someday she'll be saving your butt even, but for now you keep an eye on her."

Renko blushes a little and says "you make it sound so dirty."

Reimu tightens her arm, choking Renko a little while smiling and says "my, you have such a dirty mind! And here I am worrying about you like this!"

Renko says "I'm sorry... I'm sorry!" while gasping for air.

-

Mid-morning at the Forest of Magic.

Rinnosuke was preparing his shop, like always, when Ail stops by, followed by Budou, who gasps and hides behind Ail as soon as she sees Rinnosuke.

"Well, hello Ail. Glad to see you're back." casually says Rinnosuke.

Ail smiles and waves as he says "hey, Rinnosuke. How's business? Still holding on to the tabs?"

Rinnosuke stares at Ail for a moment, then says "surprisingly enough, while you were gone, Aya and Reimu payed half of what they owe me. And who is this little youkai behind you?"

Ail pats Budou on the head and says "this is Budou. Budou, say hi to Rinnosuke. Don't worry, he's a friend too."

Budou looks at Ail for a moment, then at Rinnosuke, and nervously says "h-h-hello m-mister Ri-nnosuke."

He kneels down and extend his hand and says "well hello there. Nice to meet you, Budou."

Budou extends her hand, shaking Rinnosuke's and quickly drawing it back.

Rinnosuke gets back up and asks "Ail, what about that card of yours? The one Cirno almost managed to use."

Ail suddenly gasps and says "d-don't worry. It's safe and I don't plan on using it any time soon."

Rinnosuke arranges his glasses and says "good. Still, that's a dangerous thing to have, don't you think?"

Ail then says "I know. there's a bit of history behind this, but now is not the time. I want to go to the Misty Lake to let Cirno know I'm here."

Rinnosuke places his hands on his waist and says "you think that ice fairy is really worried about that?"

Ail smiles and says "that little ice fairy has a big heart. Never forget that, my friend."

All this time, Budou had been staring at Rinnosuke for some time, then suddenly, she happily shouts "cat-eyes~!"

Rinnosuke re-arranges his glasses again a little annoyed and says "if she wasn't such a nice child, I'd be offended by that."

After that, Ail waves as he and Budou take to the skies once more, heading straight toward the Misty Lake.

-

At the Misty Lake, Budou spots Cirno and Daiyousei, both sitting by the edge of the lake, as if expecting something to happen.

"Papa Ail, look. Two fairies."

Ail stops along with her then smiles and says "ah, those are Cirno and Daiyousei. Come, let's say hi to them."

Budou gulps, but follows after Ail. After descending, Ail says "Cirno. Daiyousei. How are you?"

The two fairies turn around, Cirno's face getting filled with a big smile after seeing him.

"Dai-chan, it's Ail. Look, Ail's back and he's visiting!" shouts Cirno.

Ail chuckles as the ice fairy launches at him and give him an icy, yet warmhearted hug. Daiyousei stands next to Cirno after Ail places her on the ground.

She smiles and politely bows, saying "mister Ail, welcome back."

Ail smiles back and waves at her, saying "thank you. I missed you guys. So~ what are you two waiting for?"

Cirno proudly pounds on her chest and says "it's almost winter. That means Letty is about to wake up. Eye want to tell her how I defeated that evil shadow girl again."

Ail looks at Cirno and smiles as he asks "again? What do you mean?"

Daiyousei says "we saw her around here the other day, staring at the mansion over there, but Cirno-chan froze her and stopped her from accomplishing her plans once more!"

Ail looks back at the mansion saying "you don't say?"

Suddenly, Cirno spots Budou and asks "who are you?"

Ail chuckles and says "I'm sorry, this is Budou. Budou, these are Cirno and Daiyousei."

Budou wasn't as nervous about meeting the two fairies. They were her same height as her, and looked friendly, however she though to herself "oh... I hope they like me."

She bows as she contracts her wings saying "h-hello, I'm Budou."

Cirno expands her chest proudly and says "Eye am Cirno, the strongest of all Gensokyo."

"I am Daiyousei. Hello Budou. Your name sounds tasty *giggle*." said Daiyousei with a smile.

Cirno adds "if you are Ail's friend, then you are my friend too. You are lucky to have a genius as powerful as me for a friend."

Budou excitedly gasps and flaps her wings a little saying "really? I'm your friend? Thank you miss Cirno! Papa, Ail, papa Ail, she's my friend!"

Ail blushes a little as Cirno asks "papa? Then who's your mom?"

Budou thinks for a moment then says "mama Sanae" with a wide smile, making Ail blush beet red.

Cirno just looks at them, then says "oh, that green maiden? Wow, so humans can have bats as babies? This is an AMAZING DISCOVERY!"

She stands proudly as Daiyousei says "Cirno-chan, you deduced all that all by yourself, and so quickly too. You are so amazing!"

Ail sweats and says "err... I better go and visit the mansion now, Cirno. Say hi to Letty for me, ok? Let's go Budou."

Budou smiles, bows at Cirno and Daiyousei then runs after Ail, who was walking away fast.

-

As they walk toward the mansion's gates, the first thing Ail notices it Meiling missing from her post.

He fears something may have happened, but tries to keep calm as he kneels and says "Budou, this is the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Usually it's not a friendly place, but something happened yesterday, so it might be more dangerous."

Budou gulps and her lips start to tremble.

Ail pats her on the head and says "calm down. Just stay close to me all the time and I'll keep you safe."

Ail smiles at Budou, but she was too nervous to smile back. Ail stands up, and as soon as he does, the clings on to his back tightly, popping her head from over his shoulder.

Ail shrugs and thinks "I guess this is close, then."

He opens the door to the mansion, suddenly a vision of the dark future's mansion came to him, however it vanishes in a second as his bracelet shines.

Immediately inside, he calms down and takes a deep breath, thinking "maybe that trip affected me more than I thought?"

From the left corridor, Meiling jumps as she shouts "MISTER AIL~ welcome!"

She hugs Ail tightly, also hugging Budou in the proscess.

She loosens her grip, pats Budou's wings and with a blank stare toward the ceiling she asks "Ail, you grew wings?"

Ail says "oh dear" as he grabs hold of Budou, who after that tight hug, was in a daze and almost fell from Ail's back.

After a quick recovery by Budou, Meiling bows while saying "I'm so sorry, I didn't know she was there!"

Budou walks toward Meiling and smiles as she says "you're a good person, aren't you?"

Ail was surprised and said "wow, she's usually very shy."

Budou smiles and says "I don't have to be scared of her, because she's very nice."

Meiling rubs the back of her head with a goofy smile and says "well thank you. I am Meiling. Meiling Hong. What's your name?"

Meiling grabs Budou by her waist and lifts her up, making her giggle and expand her wings as she says "I'm Budou. Papa Ail gave me that name!"

Meiling hugs her and says "you're so cute. So Ail's your papa?"

Ail blushes again and says "I-I found her in my house. She seems so defenseless, so I'm going to take care of her."

Budou smiles and says "just like a good papa!"

Again Ail blushes then Meiling says "aww, that's so nice of you, Ail."

Budou giggles then says "and mama Sanny gave me these clothes."

Meiling looks at Ail mischievously and says "you don't say? I always said they made a good couple."

Ail blushes now so much, he felt his head was going to explode, but he manages to ask "so... Meiling? Why aren't you outside?"

Meiling gasps and says "ah, that's right! I'm supposed to clean the right side of the mansion now. Sakuya is still weak, so I'm helping the fairy maids. I can take you there if-"

"That won't be necessary, Meiling. You may continue to your duties." said Patchouli from the second floor, looking casually down as she continues saying "Ail, so glad you came. We could use your assistance."

-

As they walk down the second floor corridor to Sakuya's room, Ail presents Budou to Patchouli, whose face, for some reason turned a little pink whenever she faced Ail.

"Patchouli, this is Budou. I'm taking care of her. Budou, this is my friend, Patchouli Knowledge."

Patchouli looks away as she says "please, Ail. I asked you to call me Patchy."

Budou keeps quiet until Patchouli addresses to her.

"So, little Budou, huh? For some reason, that name makes me hungry."

Budou whimpers then Patchouli calmly says "I'm sorry, I was only joking."

Ail was a little surprised and asks "Patchy? You're joking?"

Patchouli's face turns red as she faces away from Ail, trying to hide herself as she calmly says "w-what? Can't I joke from time to time too?"

Budou giggles as she stares at Patchouli then says "you are Lady Bookworm!"

Patchouli was in complete shock then hesitantly asks "L-Lady Book-worm? Wh-why?"

Budou giggles and smiles very innocently and says "because you look VERY smart. Smarter than bookworm 2 even."

Ail sweats and says "ok Budou, I think that's enough for now."

For a moment, there was an awkward silence, but it was soon broken when Patchouli says "ah, yes. We're here. Ail, Sakuya has recovered magnificently, however it seems she's lacking energy."

Ail smiles and says "I understand. Leave it to me."

-

Entering Sakuya's room, the first thing Ail notices is the exhausted Remilia sitting on a chair, next to Sakuya.

"Remilia" exclaims Ail. "Are you ok?"

Remilia was so tired, she could barely keep her eyes open, and with a tired smile, she faces Ail and says "ah... Ail. Are you going to help Sakuya?"

Ail nods and says "Remilia, you really need to sleep."

Remilia gets a little angry and although weakly, she says with authority "and who do you think you are to talk to me that way? If there weren't so many of you, I'd teach you a lesson... and who's that little runt?"

Budou was right next to Ail at the moment. When Remilia calls her a runt, she frowns and quietly says "I-I'm not a runt... I'm Budou."

Remilia wipes her nose, making a grotesque sound as she did and asks "what was that? I didn't hear you, little runt!"

Budou's cheeks puff, and with a tear on her eye she says "my name is Budou! Papa Ail gave me a name, so don't call me runt!"

Remilia looks puzzled for a moment, then with a naughty expression on her face she asks "papa? Who's the mama, then?"

Patchouli was screaming inside her mind, her cheeks turning red with rage as Budou says "that would be mama Sanny. She gave me clothes. Isn't that right papa Ail?"

Remilia stares at Ail with a very naughty look on her face, while Patchouli continues to scream curses in her mind, and Ail was now blushing again so much, his face felt as though it was gonna fly away on it's own like a rocket.

Suddenly Sakuya moans and everyone in the room, even Budou, came back to their senses.

"Sakuya, I'm here, it's ok." said Remilia in a desperate tone.

Ail stares at Sakuya, who weakly opens her eyes and smiles, then goes back to sleep.

Ail looks at where the wound used to be and says "ah, I see. Don't worry, Lady Remilia. Sakuya will be back on her feet by tomorrow, I promise. Now, let's get her energy flowing again."

Ail gets close to Sakuya and places his hand on her forehead. He closes his eyes and concentrate. He could see Sakuya's energy flow and his own, helping her energy flow freely as it should. Patchouli could see faint traces of the energy flow, Remilia just looked on in wonder, but Budou could see the whole thing.

Suddenly she says "papa, that energy is trapped there on her foot. Look, something's blocking it."

Ail and Patchouli were both very surprised, then Ail looks at Sakuya's foot under the covers and says "my, you're right. How did you-?"

Ail shakes his head then decides to continue working on Sakuya's energy, freeing the clogged energy from her foot.

Patchouli stares at Budou for a moment and says "little Budou, how did you see that so easily?"

Budou looks puzzled and asks "what? You mean you can't see it?"

-

Sakuya opens her eyes just as Ail finished with her and says "whoa... I feel like new! What happened?"

Remilia extends her arms and hugs Sakuya saying "Sakuya~! You woke up! Look everyone, Sakuya's ok!"

Sakuya tries to get up, but quickly realizes her hip still hurts, so she just sits up and pats Remilia on her head saying "my lady. I'm so sorry to have worried you. Ail, Lady Patchouli?"

Ail smiles and says "it looks to me you tried to stop time just as that woman struck you with her blade, am I right?"

Sakuya rubs her hair and says "I--I think so. All I remember is Luna's face above my own, and Yumeko fighting her off. After that... everything's a blur."

As she spoke, she notices Budou and stares at her with curiosity then asks "and who is this?"

Budou felt safe with Sakuya for some reason and immediately says "I'm Budou. Nice to meet you."

Ail again was very surprised at Budou, but didn't say anything. Sakuya pats the side of her bed, welcoming Budou closer.

When she gets close, Sakuya smiles and says "wow... you're cute. You remind me of someone..."

For a moment Sakuya thinks then imagines Budou with wings on her head and looking a little older, then says "ah, you look like Koakuma. Wow, if you were a little older, I could confuse you with her *giggle*"

Budou giggles along with Sakuya, then Patchouli, sounding almost angry says "aren't you going to give Sakuya a nickname too?"

Budou stares at Sakuya, who was a little puzzled about the current situation and then suddenly Budou smiles and says "Lady Sakuya!"

Patchouli gets annoyed and asks "what? You're not calling her doggy, or lady doggy, or something!?"

Budou gets a little nervous and aks "wh-why? Why are you so angry, Lady Bookworm?"

Ail sighs and says "Patchy, you should just give up... she's just an infant anyway."

Patchouli puffs and says "fine. Ail, please come with me to my library, I need to ask you something."

Just then, they all realize Remilia had fallen asleep right next to Sakuya's bed, twitching her wings with every snore.

Patchouli places her on Sakuya's bed, at Sakuya's own request, then left them both as she and Ail head to her library.

-

At the library, the first thing Patchouli does after she and Ail sit down on the desk is ask "what did you see? I can see it in your eyes, you know something. A lot of things. What is it?"

Ail sighs and says "as much as I'd like to fill you in, I can't. I made a promise to SikiEiki."

Disappointed, Patchouli sighs and says "I see. *chuckle* And here I though I could get some good information from you. Well, it can't be helped."

On the background, Koakuma and Budou were looking at some books. Koakuma points up, then Budou flaps her wings to get a little blue book from one of the highest shelves. Although little, the book was heavy for her, so she pulls it out with all her might, causing the rest of the top books to fall along with her. Koakuma is able to catch Budou before she hit the floor, but the books were headed straight at them. Ail casually places a barrier around them, saving both from the avalanche of books that headed their way.

Patchouli turns around and says "Koakuma, try not to mess the library too much, ok?"

She turns back to Ail and asks "can you feel her presence?"

Ail nods and says "please, don't do anything now. Let things happen on their own."

Patchouli looks straight at Ail with that expressionless look of hers then says "so I was right. You do know something after all. Fine, I'll leave things to you then."

Ail sighs and says "not so fast. We might need your help after all."

Ail whispers at Patchouli as Budou and Koakuma laugh in the background while looking through some books that had fallen off the top shelves.

-

At the Youkai Mountain, Aya wakes up and immediately shouts "wake up you three! Since yesterday I spent all day looking for YOU, today you're going to help me with some hard tasks!"

As they slowly get up from the futons on the ground, Momiji comes in to Aya's secret house, whispers something on Aya's ear, then Aya gets angry. She stomps hard as she heads straight to Luna and says "you and me are going to have a little 'us-time' little lady!"

At the Hakurei Shrine, immediately after waking up, Reimu feels great amounts of sadness rushing straight to her heart, and quickly she thinks of Budou again.

She gasps for air and thinks "i-is this? Dammit all, how the hell am I supposed to handle THIS one?"

At Entei, Yorihime had woken up early, feeling great excitement, as today, she was going back home, back to her sister. Eirin was a little sad to see her go, but was really happy for her at the same time.

At Flandre's room in the Scarlet Mansion, Agava was being held tightly by Flandre as she slept. Although a little miserable, she couldn't contain her wicked smile, thinking her victory was near at hand.

Meanwhile, Yuki was thinking about Alice's harsh words, looking out the window, while Alice was also thinking about their little incident, also looking out her window, thinking "I hope she'll forgive me."

-

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and Budou were created by Willie G.R.

AUG 30 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	15. Chapter 14

Author's note:

**Hello, and thank you for reading this far. I would like to know your opinion about my work. Am I still switching tenses too much? Is my writing too confusing? Do you like this, or not? Do you want me to stop, continue? I would appreciate any honest comment, so I can improve my writing. Anonymous comments are also welcome. Please, if you don't say anything, I can't know whether I am doing any good or not. Again, thank you for reading this far, and I do hope you are enjoying this story so far. -Willie G.R.**

* * *

And so, Sakuya is still healing, Agava has infiltrated the mansion and has Flandre convinced she's her friend, and although Ail and Patchouli know of this, they are letting things roll as they are.

Reimu still has very bad feelings when thinking about Budou, but she's trying to ignore it, seeing as Budou has no powers of her own... or so she thinks.

Alice is trying to think of a way to have Yuki forgive her harsh words, and Aya, having found something out thanks to Momiji's sudden report, gets angry and asks Luna to come along with her, alone.

Yorihime is excitedly waiting for Ail to come and take her back home, but it seems Eirin doesn't want her to go.

-

Ail and Budou land at the Hakurei Shrine, after having visited the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Once there, Reimu greets them, sounding almost annoyed. "Hey... something else happen?"

Ail gets a little surprised and asks "whoa... bad night?"

Reimu holds her forehead and says "bad morning."

Ail sighs and says "then maybe it's better I don't tell you."

Reimu sighs and says "go ahead. Might as well get it over with."

Ail hesitates then says "Agava is with Flandre right now. We have to be vigilant. Anything could happen at any moment now."

Reimu growls lowly and then says "great... What a SPLENDID timing."

Ail looks worriedly at Reimu and says "look, Reimu. If you want to sit this one out-"

As Ail and Reimu were talking, Budou stares curiously at Reimu, as if studying her. She walks quietly toward Reimu, stands next to her then signals her with her little hand to get closer.

Ail looks on with wonder and asks "Budou? What's the matter?"

Budou gently places her index finger on Reimu's forehead and gently passes her finger from one side of her forehead to the other, then to the other again, then places the palm of her left hand on the center of Reimu's forehead. It glows green.

Reimu feels a bit warm and then suddenly, she springs up and says "WOW~! I feel so RELIEVED!"

Reimu smiles and starts to humm, then Budou says "someone played a prank on my Hakurei sis, so I cleaned the dark out."

Ail was amazed and asks "Bu-Budou, what are you talking about?"

Reimu pauses, then looks at Budou and asks "what kind of power is that?"

Budou looks a little worried and asks "did... I do something bad?"

She was about to cry when Ail says "no, no, it's not that. You did really good. It's just, I didn't know you could do that."

Reimu then asks "Budou? What did you see in me?"

Budou thinks for a moment and says "there was this blue thing sending a really bad light to your heart, so I turned it into good light."

She smiles almost angelically as she says this. Reimu looks at her with awe, and so does Ail. Both congratulate her, making her smile and giggle.

Maribel wakes up and asks "oh my, mister Ail, miss Reimu, little Budou. Good morning."

Budou smiles and raises her hands as she shouts with glee "cute kitty~!"

Maribel smiles and wiggles her ears as she says "as adorable as ever, you cute little Budou, you."

-

After happily serving and eating breakfast, Reimu sits with Budou on her lap while drinking some tea and watching Mima and Renko sweep the last of the autumn leaves.

"You know, it would be just as good if you helped up a little!" complains Renko.

Reimu smiles and says "but you're both doing such a wonderful job. I wouldn't want to get in the way now. Right?"

Budou giggles and says "ri~ght!"

Mima sobs and says "no fair! She gets to play with Budou while I get to sweep rotten old leaves!"

Still smiling, Reimu replies "well, you got to keep Maribel all to yourself last night."

Meanwhile, inside the shrine, Ail and Maribel were talking about getting Yorihime back home.

"...and so, I need your help again. It's pretty simple, really." says Ail.

Maribel gulps and replies "but... you don't think we'll go inside one of those portals by force again? And end up somewhere else?"

Ail sighs and says "well, now that I understand what's going on, I can safely say that won't happen. Don't worry, nothing bad will happen this time."

Maribel thinks about it for a moment then says "ok, I'll help, but if we get sucked into another strange land, I'm gonna hold you responsible!"

Ail chuckles and says "alright. Well, whenever you're ready, we'll head to Entei."

Back outside, Renko and Mima switched from sweeping leaves to sword-fighting with their brooms. Reimu was feeling too happy to care, and dreamily cheers on.

-

At Entei, Mystia visits Yorihime very early in the morning. They talk for a while, Mystia trying to convince Yorihime to buy some more eels, even though she had already bought two boxed meals already.

Eirin comes out of her room and immediately asks "Is he here yet?"

Yorihime smiles at Eirin, but immediately notices Eirin's sad expression.

She gets up and gets close to her saying "Eirin? Are you alright?"

Reisen gets out of her room, then heads to the kitchen as she says "oh, good morning everyone. I'll make us some breakfast. Anything special you might... want? Master?"

Eirin looks at Yorihime and asks "do you really have to go so soon?"

Mystia gasps and asks "wait, why? Already?"

Yorihime chuckles and says "Eirin, Mystia... I miss my sister very much, and I am very certain she misses me. Eirin, you know what will happen if I stay longer than I should, right?"

Eirin sighs and nods and says "I guess you're right."

Yorihime turns to Mystia and says "Mystia, I don't want you to feel sad, alright. I want you all to be happy for me. I get to go back home! Besides... I can come visit whenever I want, right?"

Eirin nods as she wipes a tear from under her left eye, and Mystia looks down to her knees and says "I guess so..."

Yorihime wraps her arm around Eirin's neck and pulls her down to sit with her, then wraps her other arm around Mystia and says "then smile for me, ok? No tears and no frowning. And if you behave, I'll bring Toyohime with me, and maybe a couple of souvenirs."

Both Eirin and Mystia smile and laugh. Eirin then says "fine, I won't feel sad, but you gotta keep your promise, alright?"

Mystia adds "and don't forget about me when you come back to visit, or I'll get mad."

Reisen looks at them all smiling like that, then thinks "just a few days ago they looked so bitter. Specially lady Yorihime, but look at them now. Ah, it's so refreshing to see them smile like that."

As she thinks all this, breakfast catches fire. Reisen wakes up from her thoughts and realizes this, panics, but manages to turn off the fire before it was too late, for both herself and breakfast.

Eirin looks on from the living room with a smile and in a sweet tone of voice says "Udonge~. Careful not to burn anything or I'll have to punish you~!"

Reisen shivers, but forces a smile as she nervously says "n-of course not, master! Everything is fine, see?"

As she serves some rice on to the bowls she thinks "lucky Tewi isn't awake, or she'd take advantage of this."

-

Moments after breakfast, Ail, Budou and Maribel arrive at Entei from one of Ail's gaps. Immediately after arriving, Yorihime springs up and says "you kept your word!"

Ail smiles and asks "so you ready to go home?"

Yorihime closes her eyes for a moment and suddenly remembers her first days while in Gensokyo, remembering how she though they were planning to invade the moon, then how miserable and alone she though she was.

She opens her eyes and smiles, then turns to Eirin, Mystia and Reisen, gets closer and says "well, I'm going home now."

Eirin says "don't forget to come visit soon."

Mystia immediately adds "don't forget about me too quickly either!"

Yorihime giggles and says "don't worry. I'll come back soon, and Mystia, I promise never to forget about you. Udonge, you be good now."

Reisen flicks a tear off her right eye as she nods. Suddenly they were all hugging each other.

Ail turns around and sniffles. Budou looks at him curiously, so Ail says "ah, it's nothing. Got something in my eye."

Maribel whispers "that's just so sweet~!"

After finishing their group-hug, Yorihime walks toward Ail and nods. She looks at Maribel and asks "is she the friend you spoke of?"

Ail nods and says "without her, this would be almost impossible to do right now."

Yorihime then looks toward Budou. She smiles as Budou hides behind Ail and asks "and who is this little one over here?"

Ail smiles and says "this is Budou. A young youkai I'm looking after. Go ahead Budou. Say hi to Yorihime."

Yorihime kneels down and extends her hand while smiling. Budou slowly gets closer and says "h-hi... l-lady Yorihime."

Yorihime pats her on the head as soon as she was in range and says "you're really cute." then gets back up, sighs and says "ok, I'm ready."

Ail nods and signals Maribel to get closer. "Just like in Makai." says Ail.

Maribel nods and says "right!"

She grabs hold of Ail's arm and starts summoning energy to herself without firing any bullets. Quickly, Ail aims his hand toward Yorihime, then a gap opens.

Inside the gap, Yorihime could see the moon capital. She smiles and just before she heads inside, she turns around again, waves at Eirin and the others, then turns around and jumps inside the gap.

Once she passes through, she turns around once more to look at Eirin, then the gap closes off.

Ail takes a deep breath and says "that... was... hard."

-

Eirin looked as though she was about to cry, but then she spots Budou and immediately rushes to her with a most curious look, scaring her in the process.

In a sweet tone of voice she says "you don't need to be afraid. I'm Eirin. I just want to meet you."

Budou trembles while behind Ail. He turns around and kneels to face Budou directly and says "Budou, come on, don't be rude."

Budou gulps and says "she... she wants to experiment. She wants to use those needles on me!"

Ail smiles and while turning to face Eirin with a dangerous atmosphere around him he says "don't worry about that. As long as I am here, she won't hurt you."

When he finishes his sentence, he give Eirin a very dangerous stare and asks "am I right?"

Eirin sweats and gulps, then says "er, sure. I just want to say hi, that's all."

Budou cautiously gets closer and shakes Eirin's hand while saying "I'm... Budou... m-miss Eirin."

Reisen and Mystia get closer, and when Budou looks at them, she smiles almost angelically and says "I'm Budou. What are your names?"

Ail was surprised that she is so friendly toward some, and with others, she gets so scared she actually trembles, however he preferred to keep quiet this time and just observe.

Reisen kneels down and smiles, saying "hello little one. My name is Reisen Udonge Inaba."

Mystia smiles, even though her eyes were full of tears and says "my name is Mystia."

Budou stares at Mystia for a moment, then says "don't cry, Mystia. I'll call you sisi if you stop crying."

Mystia wipes the tears off and asks "sisi? Why sisi? Why not just sis?"

Budou looks at her some more, then jumps and hugs her saying "sisi~!"

At first, Mystia was a bit surprised, then giggles and says "alright, alright, fine. I'm sisi."

By then, Tewi had woken up and was watching from a distance.

Budou looks towards the bush Tewi was hiding behind and says "wow, that is one lucky bush... wait... there's something else..."

Suddenly, Budou gasps and shouts "papa Ail! Look out!"

Large energy balls fly from behind Tewi, burning her as they pass by, heading straight to Ail.

He gets in front of everyone and activates a barrier, then uses the bullet's own momentum, bounces them back, then blasts Kaguya as she hops from under another bush, shouting "ha-HA~! How do you like- Eh? Oh, crap!"

*BOOM!* After the smoke clears up, they all look at Kaguya, who was knocked out on the ground.

Tewi walks out of the bushes she was hiding from, rubbing her head and saying "oww... that really hurts."

Budou giggles and says "lucky rabbit!"

-

At the Moon Capital, Toyohime walks close to a peach tree and just stares at it.

"This is where sis disappeared. I hope she's alright." she thinks as she places her hand on the tree.

From behind, a hand grabs her shoulder, making her yelp and back away. As soon as she turns around she sees Yorihime smiling and waving at her, saying "hey sis. I'm home!"

Toyohime stares at her sister in awe for a moment, then jumps and shouts "YORIHIME~!!! You're back! And you're ok!"

Yorihime catches Toyohime just as she lunges at her, giving her a bone-breaking hug.

She hugs back and sounding almost tired, she says "I'm finally back home. Oh, the things I have to tell you!"

Toyohime grabs Yorihime by her hand and pulls her as she runs and says "you can tell me ALL about your adventures later. Now we go home and you rest! You must be so tired."

Yorihime can't help but smile as her sister excitedly pulls her home while she thinks "so good to be back."

-

At Alice's house, Mai was just about to leave.

"It was nice to see you again, sis." says Mai as she opens the door.

Alice smiles, but her mind was still on Yuki.

In a low tone she says "Mai, if you see Yuki, please, tell her I'm sorry. And... could you tell her to come back? I wish to apologize to her directly."

Mai smiles and says "but sis, wouldn't it be better if you come and visit? Besides, it's been some time since you went home."

Alice get's nervous and says "m-m-me? Go back... back to M-M-Makai? But what if Yuki and Shinki are mad? What if they don't want to see me?"

Mai places her hand on the left side of her forehead and says "geez, fine. I'll tell her. But you know, I'm sure you're worried about nothing. Yuki's just not the type to hold grudges."

She notices Alice was trembling. "Ahh, fine, I'll tell Yuki. It was nice seeing you again, sis. Keep an open eye for Lady Shinki. I'm sure she'll be coming by any day now."

Alice smiles and waves at Mai as she waves back and closes the door.

After flying off on to the air, Mai says "my goodness, she might have grown, but she's such a child. She and Yuki are more alike than I would ever though possible."

-

At the base of the tengu's waterfall at the Youkai Mountain, Aya has Luna standing on a very small stone in the middle of the water, right in front of where the water falls to the river.

"What's the meaning of this!? You take me away from that doll and Kyo to strand me here? I can swim, you know!?" shouts Luna at Aya, who is flying above her, bearing her black crow wings.

Aya smiles and says "oh, I'm so glad to hear that. I asked the kappa to release some hungry underwater creatures, so go ahead and swim all you want. You might only lose two or three limbs."

Luna shouts back "you insipid, bird-brained, thick-headed, PERVERT! When I get my hands on you, I'll--"

"You'll try to brutally kill me, just like the maid, right?" replies Aya.

She looks into Luna's eyes and realizes she doesn't even feel the least bit guilty about Sakuya.

Luna smiles a most evil smile as Aya simply stares back at her. "Look around you" says Aya.

Luna continues to smile as she looks around. She was surrounded by no less than 10 tengu, including Aya and Momiji. She looks into the water and sees large creatures, some look like snakes, other like giant catfish.

She gulps as her smile vanishes and shouts "if you kill me, Kyo will have all your heads!"

Aya smiles and says "those of us with power, here in Gensokyo, abide to certain rules. A game, some might call it. We don't kill others just because we don't like them, although admittedly, some accidents might happen against bitter rivals. Still--"

By now, Luna was glaring at Aya with murderous intent, and was holding her sword on her left hand. She tightens her grip and grins.

Aya notices this and sweeps her fan in the air, generating a gust of wind that throws Luna off balance, forcing her to let go of her sword and hold on to the small rock looking like a cat trying to avoid plunging into the water.

Aya chuckles and says "you look good! Think you can hold on for much longer? You try that again and I guarantee you'll fall in."

Luna grumbles "what do you want from me!?"

Aya smiles and says "I'm going to make a deal with you right now. Become my apprentice, and we will postpone your judgment."

Luna grumbles loudly "what makes you think I want to become your apprentice?"

Aya answers "I don't want to cause Kyo any pain. Become my apprentice and live on in here with Kyo, or die. Simple, isn't it?"

Luna finally recovers her balance and shouts "WHAT!? All this for that MAID!? You don't even KNOW her like I do! Besides, the battle between us is PERSONAL!"

Aya calmly says "it may be personal, and you may know more about her than we do, but she has many friends here now that care about her. It's by their request that we intervene. One more time... become my apprentice and live. Don't, then die."

Luna bravely looks on, hoping to find a way out, but she was trapped. The tengu had their weapons ready, the creatures underneath looked hungry. She was trapped.

She manages to kneel on the small rock and says "FINE! I'll become your apprentice."

-

It is now early noon, and Flandre Scarlet has just woken up.

She and Agava are playing hide-and-seek, and Agava is 'it'. She walks around the house, hiding behind the shadows every time a fairy maid would come by.

She stops for a moment and places her hands on her hip while thinking "well, that little vampire is pretty good at hiding... wait, what the hell am I thinking!? GAH!!! I should be looking for that book, not a little vampire! I can't believe myself. Hmph! I was actually enjoying this."

She starts walking to the library, again, hiding every time a fairy maid would come by. While she heads to the library she continues to think about Flandre, and her sudden enjoyment over the silly games.

"Was I really having fun with these stupid games? I should be focusing in my task, not on silly games... and yet. Something about playing... maybe it's this body... the charm. I MUST get this out of me. There's GOTTA be a way."

As she thinks all this, she continues her way to the library, still hiding every time someone was close. Meiling almost saw her, but she managed to hide well.

Finally, she arrives at the library.

She opens the door and realizes her search could take time.

She looks on with awe at the towers and towers of books and shelves and thinks "I never expected this. Oh man, I was hoping to do this before our game was done, but it seems I'll have to stay here for a while before..."

Agava realizes she's feeling excitement over the idea of staying longer and playing some more with Flandre.

She bites her lower lip so hard it bleeds as she thinks "dammit all! What is this!?"

She grabs hold of her chest and clenches her shirt tightly while thinking "I am a being of shadows! I am hatred made manifest. I can't feel joy, or love, or any of those pathetic and useless emotions, and yet..."

She drops her hands and lets them swing in the air as she stands on the doorway, just thinking.

She raises her head very suddenly, her blue eyes glowing scarlet for a moment, and thinks "time to get to work!"

-

At the Youkai mountain, Aya gets Luna back on dry land.

"Alright apprentice! My first command to you is to take off that disgusting glove off your left hand." says Aya in a very commanding tone.

Luna hides her smirk by looking down to the ground and grumbles "whatever you say... you insipid PARROT!"

Luna grabs her sword with her left hand and lunges directly toward Aya, slicing her neck open with her sword... or so she thought.

When she gets up with a smile on her face, Luna quickly realizes she only sliced a image left behind by Aya after moving so fast.

Luna tries to spot the tengu, but Aya kicks her back hard, making her hit the ground with such impact the leaves on the ground around her flutter three feet away, and her sword flies away from her reach.

Aya smiles and says "tsk, tsk, tsk. Apprentices don't attack their masters like that. Now, let's take this blood-stained glove off."

Aya forcefully takes Luna's black glove off and says "so it's not really black, just as I suspected. How many have you killed with this, huh? Hundreds? Thousands, perhaps?"

Luna growls an tries to hide her exposed hand, as if ashamed of it.

Aya chuckles and says "so there is some humanity in you after all. You're ashamed of that hand. Good!"

Aya gets off Luna's back and casually walks next to the river and says "well then, you won't be needing this anymore."

She tosses the glove on the water, and almost immediately various creatures attacked the glove as if it were a delicacy for them.

As Aya looked at the scene, she realizes she was right about the glove.

It was stained with so much blood, it looked like a regular black glove. Aya turns to Luna, who continued to lie on the ground, hiding her left hand under her belly.

She walks over and says "I'm curious. What was the original color of that glove?"

Luna was now trembling, holding back her tears as she glares furiously at Aya from the ground and says "I--I don't remember."

Aya fans herself with her maple leaf fan and says "well I guess we can leave it at that. For now, my apprentice, I want you to get up and look at your left hand."

Aya sits next to Luna and waits. Luna continues to tremble on the ground, but wouldn't get up.

Aya gets annoyed and waves her maple leaf fan at Luna, controlling the gusts of wing to force Luna to stand up and shouts "I gave you an order!"

Luna trembles violently and slowly she exposes her hand and looks at it. As she did, her silver eyes widen, her mouth trembles along with her and her tears start flowing uncontrollably.

Aya looks at her and asks "what do you see?"

Luna continues to stare at her hand and suddenly visions of her first assassinations came to her.

Flashback after flashback, killing after killing, men, women, children, animals, elders, villages, then Sakuya's image came to view and says "you're just a common murderer."

Luna screams in a panic and grabs her remaining sword.

She swings the blade straight on to her left hand, but Aya get up and sends various gusts of wind, blowing away her blade and then shouts "THAT WON'T SOLVE ANYTHING! If you're as strong as you claim you are, you will FACE all those memories head on! All those you have killed will never find rest until you have payed for your crimes, and pay you will. There is no escape now. You are MINE until I deem you worthy of being released, is that clear!?"

Luna falls to her knees, unable to take her eyes off her hand while her tears continue to fall on their own.

Aya sighs and pats Luna's back and says "come. You need to rest now."

Aya helps Luna up as she begins to sob, and as they walk back to the waterfall Luna says "I didn't- I can't... do this."

Aya replies to her in a soft tone "of course you can. Come, let's rest now."

-

Mai finally arrives to Pandemonium and is greeted by Shinki and Yuki at the main hall.

"Mai, welcome back home, child. Where have you been?" asks Shinki while hugging Mai.

Yuki quietly stands under a window and says "Mai, welcome back. We... missed you."

Mai replies "Lady Shinki, I apologize for not saying anything before."

Shinki smiles and says "it's alright. The important thing is you're back home safe."

Yumeko appears a few feet away from Yuki and smiles as Mai greets her. Suddenly, Mai realizes that Yuki wasn't jumping on her, trying to hug her, trying to get her angry, or calling her 'sis' as she usually did.

Mai gets closer to Yuki and asks "Yuki? What's the matter? You're not trying to jump on me, calling me names, or yelling your head off... you're not even smiling, sis."

Yuki lowers her head and says "of course not. If I did all that, I'd be a nuisance, wouldn't I?"

A fake smile covers Yuki's face as she raises her head.

Mai gets closer and asks "Yuki, why are you acting like this? Ahh, yeah I see. Look Al-"

Before Mai could finish what she was saying, Yuki grabs her by the neck and violently pushes her against the wall she was just standing by and angrily says "don't you DARE say another word!"

Shinki was surprised, as was Yumeko. Mai was scared beyond words but manages to ask "Yu-Yuki! That hurt! Wh-what's the matter with you!?"

Yumeko aims a few daggers toward Yuki shouts "Yuki! Let her go, NOW!"

Yuki suddenly realizes what she was doing, gasping with surprise as she lets go of Mai.

She backs away and trembles as she says "I-I'm sorry. I-I don't- I'm sorry..."

Suddenly she turns around and starts running to her room.

Mai takes a few deep breaths and says "my goodness, she took it worse than I thought."

Shinki asks "what happened? Did she and Alice had a fight?"

Mai looks at Shinki surprised and asks "she didn't tell you?"

Yumeko says "no, but we sort of figured something like this had happened."

Shinki adds "specially after she called Luize a 'fat hag' just because she mentioned Alice's name. Now poor Luize is eating nothing but vegetables."

Mai wasn't sure whether to laugh of be worried. She thinks for a moment and says "I see. I'll tell you what happened. See, it was like this-"

-

It was dark now. The night was really cold, signaling winter was just days away.

Ail and Budou had spent most of the day at the Hakurei shrine right after Ail went home to get a violet robe.

Reimu's bad feelings were all gone, and was still feeling very happy. Mima, somehow, managed to take Budou away from Reimu, while Maribel and Renko were having a staring contest for the last dumpling, and Ail was on the shrine's porch, quietly meditating.

He suddenly opens his eyes widely and gasps. He rushes to Reimu and says "Reimu, we gotta move, now!"

Reimu giggles and says "you know, those black slip-on shoes don't really match that dress. Oh, right, sorry. It's a robe."

Ail growls and says "Reimu, I'm serious."

Reimu smiles and says "relax. Your bracelet will warn us."

From behind comes Marisa saying "oy~ Reimu~! What's with this party? Oh, Ail. Nice dress."

From Mima's lap, Budou angrily shouts "it's a robe, you meanie!"

Ail gets angry and shouts "would you just LISTEN!?"

Suddenly everyone got quite, all staring at Ail and then, a loud droplet noise catches everyone's attention.

-

A little earlier at Patchouli's library, Agava watches as Patchouli piles a few books on her desk, telling Koakuma "hurry up, it's almost time for dinner. I'm famished!"

Koakuma flaps the wings on her head rapidly and says "sorry Lady Patchouli. I'll be done in a second!"

Agava had spent a long time searching, but the reason she wasn't searching elsewhere now was because Koakuma had grabbed a purple book that had caught Agava's attention in the first place, and Patchouli had is placed under the large pile on her desk.

Agava was hiding just behind them, using the shadows to disappear almost entirely. Patchouli was no fool, and knew very well that Agava was there, but she was following Ail's request, and letting her stay there.

"Let's go, Koakuma." said Patchouli in a calm voice.

Koakuma places the very last book she had on her hand right back on the shelf when Patchouli calls her.

She smiles and happily says "co~mi~ng."

After waiting for a few minutes after Patchouli and Koakuma left, Agava makes her move.

She immediately heads toward the large pile of books, knocking them down and picking up the purple book she was so anxious to get.

"Let's see here..." says Agava as she reads the book.

She reads in her mind "curses, dark spells, black magic for beginners..."

She flips over various pages, then stops when she sees the drawing of what looked like very ancient magic symbols. As she reads the page quietly, she smiles and giggles.

She read in her mind "warning! The following spell, when read out-loud, will cause the caster to go in a berserk state. During this state, he or she will search for my twin while dealing with anyone that gets in their way with augmented strength and power. Upon finding my twin, another must grab her before someone else does, as my twin and it's slave will remain motionless after the extraction."

Flandre opens up the library doors and sniffs around. She closes the door and says "hey, Agava, you were supposed to come find ME! Why am I the one looking for you!?"

Agava giggles some more and says "over here, Flandre! Come look at what I found!."

Flandre looks on curiously as she walks toward Agava's voice. She quickly finds her kneeling on the ground and looking at a book.

"What you find there?" asks Flandre.

Agava smiles and says "come, take a look. It's pretty neat."

Flandre gets closer, grabbing the book Agava hands her and looks at the pages.

At first she gets nervous and was about to tell Agava she didn't want to read, but Agava felt this and used her new ability to amplify Flandre's curiosity, then says "read it out-loud. It's more fun that way."

Flandre smiles and starts reading a weird incantation. Agava feels a small tug in her heart, but quickly suppresses it and smiles.

Flandre continues to read "ho-homigane hafutamineko komiko nufeturiza? This is a strange lan-"

Suddenly Flandre's body stiffens, she stops talking and drops the book. Her eyes glow purple as her body contorts.

Agava got scared, shouting "F-Flandre? Flan? Are you-?"

Flandre's body makes a loud cracking sound as it continues to bend in strange ways, then suddenly stops.

Agava was worried for Flandre, she could feel as though her heart was being stabbed by a sharp knife.

She shivers as she asks "Flandre? Are you ok? ...Flandre?"

Suddenly, Flandre flies toward the exit to the library in a straight line, breaking the bookshelves and the door, then continues her way outside.

-

Later at night, Reimu and Mima arrive at the mansion after Flandre got out. The entrance had been blown to pieces, the gate was completely destroyed, Meiling was nowhere in sight, Remilia was unconscious just inside the mansion, and Patchouli and Koakuma were tending to the fairy maids and Remilia.

"Patchouli! What happened?" asks Reimu, sounding very nervous.

Reimu and Mima go down as Patchouli says "the little sister! She was with that shadow girl and just blasted anyone that got in her way. Reimu, her powers are doubled! Look what she did to Remi!"

Reimu gets closer to Remilia and realized the was missing half of her face, her right leg, and both wings. Reimu gasps and says "dammit... he was right!"

Patchouli shouts "AIL!!! I followed his instructions and LOOK at what happened!"

Reimu grabs Patchouli by her shoulders and says "listen, we can't tell exactly what's going on, but it's very important that these things happen, although I am sure not even Ail knew THIS would happen, or he would have done all he could to prevent this!"

Mima shouts "REIMU! What the HELL is going on!?"

Reimu backs away and angrily shouts back "I CAN'T SAY! We made a promise and can't say anything. We do need your help. Please just trust me!"

Patchouli and Mima look at each other, quietly agree, both sigh and Patchouli asks "will someone die?"

Reimu shakes her head and says "that is precisely what he's going to prevent."

Patchouli calms down and asks "then why aren't you helping him now?"

Reimu calmly replies "since we didn't listen to him... he asked us to come here and help you. Said you would need our help."

Reimu looks at Remilia as she slowly recovers the skin around her face and says "and it seems he was right."

-

At the Human Village, at Ail's request, Keine and some villagers turn as many lights around the market area as they could.

When enough lights were on, Ail shouts "Keine, protect the villagers!"

Keine shouts "FROM WHAT!?"

Ail thinks for a moment and says "whatever you do, don't get involved unless there is no other choice!"

Keine looks into Ail's eyes and feels his fear, so she quietly nods and starts placing barriers at the houses closest to the market area.

Meiling and Marisa arrive on her broom, flying at insanely dangerous speeds while Meiling shouts "EVERYONE HI~DE! RU~N! Run now~!"

Marisa stops just in front of Ail and says "I don't know if we can stop her. She took my Final Spark as if it was nothing."

Ail says "calm down... just stay behind me and assist as best as you can!"

Meiling was standing in the center of the market area in plain sight, right were most of the light was directed.

"Meiling!?" shouts Ail. At that very moment a loud explosion rattles the entire village.

Flandre stands in front of Meiling and stares at her with those violet eyes, and even though Agava was not with her, she hisses aggressively at Meiling.

"Little sister, it's me! It's Meiling, your big sister!" shouts Meiling.

Flandre hisses again and swipes her claws, threatening Meiling as the gate guard says "Flan, what's wrong with you?"

From the shadows, holding her bleeding left eye, Agava shouts "help her! She's completely out of control! Please, help her!"

In that moment, Meiling turns her attention to Agava, so Flandre takes the chance and in a fraction of a second she tackles Meiling to the ground.

Meiling struggles, trying to keep Flandre's teeth away from her neck with all her strength, but the spell on Flandre made her twice as strong as she was before, making it almost impossible for Meiling to keep her away.

Ail and Marisa were struggling against each other, Ail trying to take the miniature reactor away from her.

Marisa shouts "get out of the way, you idiot! She's going to bite her!

Ail shouts back "no, you fool. You'll hit Meiling too!"

-

Meiling continues to push Flandre away, but the little vampire made it harder now, as she starts to chomp wildly, making it impossible to hold her mouth shut.

Meiling was getting tired. She could feel her strength waning. She tries one more time to push Flandre away but immediately realized that even though she was pushing back, her arms didn't respond at all.

She smiles, accepting her fate, and as Flandre opens her mouth to bite, she says "I love you little sister."

Flandre momentarily stops, reacting to Meiling's words, but very suddenly, she bites down hard on Meiling's neck.

Meiling yelps in pain and repeats "it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt!"

When Ail heas her, his skin turns pale and his eyes go blank. He watches in horror as Flandre opens her mouth a second time, but reacts and immediately places a barrier inside Flandre's mouth.

When she realizes she couldn't chomp down, she despairs and starts to roll on the ground. She tires to bite down with such force, she breaks her own jaw. She hisses, unable to scream in pain, then spots Ail.

Immediately she lunges at him and grabs his neck, cutting him as she clenches him with her claws. Ail had placed a barrier just under the muscle and grabs hold of both her hands.

He struggles but manages to say "nice one... Flanny."

Flandre reacts again and loosens her grip, but again, she grasps him tightly.

Ail looks to Marisa and says "Master Spark... point blank!"

Marisa looks on sadly at the possessed Flandre and says "I'm sorry, little one."

She points her Hakkero and unleashes her Master Spark directly on to Flandre as she tightly closes her eyes so she wouldn't see Flandre's face as she did.

When it was over, Ail's hands were a little singed, but at least Flandre was weak enough to handle.

Marisa pats her head and says "I'm sorry..."

Ail smiles and says "she'll be alright."

His hands were singed, and his robe was in tatters, but he still managed to protect his arms and what he could of his hands from that point-blank Master Spark.

-

Meiling was standing next to Ail, holding her neck, trying to stop the blood and asks "is... she going to be ok?"

Ail nods as he removes the barrier from inside her mouth and closes her mouth, helping her mend the broken jaw, but as soon as he did, Flandre wakes up.

Her eyes were still glowing violet, but before Ail could notice, she unleashes a blast of energy, sending all three around her back, then she flies up and shoots a barrage of massive bullets down to the village.

She hisses as she shoots at the houses, but Keine's barriers were holding up. Flandre gets angry, then looks to the school.

She stops the barrage and floats toward it, but Meiling flies in front of her and shouts "little sister, stop! I-I don't want to hurt you!"

Flandre stares at Meiling for a moment, then raises her hands and concentrates her energy into a gigantic ball of light.

Meiling smiles again and says "you know I can't survive that."

Flandre reacts once more, looking at Meiling with a saddened expression.

Marisa was aiming her Hakkero at Flandre from the ground, but Ail signals her to stand by.

Meiling continues to smile at Flandre tenderly, then says "Flandre, just stop this now."

Flandre tries to talk, saying "ering... ingi... Me-"

The massive energy ball vanishes as Flandre grabs her head and shouts "MEILING, NO~! Get out of the way~!"

Flandre let's go of her head and slowly looks around. "Huh? Wh-what? Where am I?" She looks at Meiling's tender smile and asks "Meiling? Big sister, what's going on?"

Meiling takes a sigh of relief and says "little Flan-chan... you're back."

Meiling finally succumbs to exhaustion and falls down, but Flandre immediately grabs her arms shouting "Meiling!"

Ail and Marisa both take a deep breath and relax as Flandre slowly descends with Meiling safely in her hands.

-

After landing and placing Meiling softly on the ground, Flandre looks at Ail and Marisa and asks "big brother... Marisa? What happened? Y-your neck..."

Ail tries to clean off the blood and says "it's nothing."

Marisa smiles and says "let's just take you back home."

Flandre looks at Meiling's neck and sees the bite marks and the blood. She trembles as she ask "who...? D-did I... did I do that?"

Marisa immediately says "it's alright. Nobody blames you."

Ail calmly tells her "you were under a spell, Flandre. Meiling did all that she could and more to bring you back to us. When she wakes up, you should thank her, ok?"

Flandre nods at Ail, then he picks Meiling up, opens a gap to the Scarlet Devil Mansion and says "let's go... Hey, wait a minute. Where's Agava? Her eye was bleeding a lot! She might need help!"

Marisa gets a little annoyed and says "aww, let her be. She'll be fine!"

Just before the gap closes Ail says "I hope you're right." then Flandre adds "A-Agava is hurt?"

Agava looked on, hiding behind the stands as the gap closes and Keine and the villagers walk to the market area and begin repairs on all the damages.

She walks away, still holding her eye and thinks "Flandre... I'll miss you."

-

Meanwhile, Kyo, Medicine and Su-san fly to the Hakurei Shrine.

Kyo notices the lights at the village and says "hey, look over there. Must be a party or something."

Medicine, sounding annoyed and tired replies "whatever... I'm too tired to care."

Kyo sighs and says "me too. Hey, did Luna say anything to you about becoming that reporter's apprentice?"

Medicine shakes her head and says "maybe she got tricked. Maybe she's just bored."

Kyo shakes his head and says "nah... it might be just another fad."

Medicine looks at him curiously and asks "what's a... 'fad'?"

They land at the shrine as Kyo says "I'll explain later, and don't worry, I'm sure Reimu won't mind if you stay here tonight."

They enter the shrine as Medicine says "I hope so."

From outside the shrine Renko can be heard greeting them and saying "Ah, Kyo. Reimu is out at the moment, but she said you could stay in the living room tonight."

Suddenly Budou shouts "KYAAA~~!! STRANGERS!!!"

Kyo shouts "What the HECK!?"

Medicine shouts "what's going on!?"

Budou's wings can be heard flapping with force, her silhouette going round and round inside the building.

Maribel shouts "Oh dear, little one. Little Budou, calm down. They won't hurt you!"

Budou cries out loud "where's papa~!?"

Renko shouts "don't worry, these are friends!"

Kyo shouts "could SOMEONE tell me what's going on!?"

Maribel shouts back "please, no shouting. You're scaring her!"

The shouts and commotion went on and on, and from outside, enjoying the entire spectacle, is Rumia.

She watches, listens and giggles, then looks with curiosity after a loud crashing sound makes Budou cry some more. She looks at the moon and says "is that so~?"

-

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and Budou were created by Willie G.R.

SEP 2 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	16. Chapter 15

With the first event done, Ail, Reimu, Sanae, Maribel and Renko can rest for a while, until the next event comes around... however, something wasn't right.

Her day with Flandre changed Agava more than she could ever imagine, and something else...

Kyo and Medicine arrive late at night to the Hakurei Shrine, causing poor Budou to get so nervous that she cries out for her "papa".

At Makai, Yuki exploded in such a manner never imaginable by those that know her well, and leaves them awestruck as she runs away to her room, so Mai is determined to explain with detail what she saw happen at Alice's house.

Luna, having become Aya's apprentice, quickly realizes Aya wasn't playing games with her. It's going to be a long winter for the tengu and her human apprentice.

-

At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Ail helps Patchouli with Remilia. Naturally, Patchouli Knowledge was beyond herself with anger toward Ail, even though it's not his fault, and understanding that he can't tell her exactly what is going on, she feels what he made her do, to deliberately set the book that could help Agava within her reach, was inexcusable and lacked planning from his part.

"Patchouli, I'm really sorry for all this. I swear, I didn't know things would get this ugly." desperately says Ail as he and Patchouli work on speeding up Remilia's healing.

Patchouli growls softly then says "Ail, I understand you know something. Something very important, and if I am not mistaken, you knew something like this was going to happen. You went and did things recklessly without taking in consideration the consequences!"

Ail lowers his head and sighs.

They keep silent for a moment as Remilia's wings completely grow back again, then Ail says "you're right. I should have been more careful. Specially after so many things changed from what I had been told originally."

Patchouli gasps and looks at Ail.

He slowly raises his head and says "Sakuya wasn't supposed to be injured, for starters, and Meiling was supposed to be at the town, buying supplies, not helping the fairy maids."

Patchouli silently stares at Ail as he shakes his head, trying to rattle some facts in his mind.

He balls his right hand into a fist and strikes his own forehead and says "I am... quite angry at the moment. Remilia wasn't suppose to get injured like this either. I overlooked something, maybe..."

Patchouli gasps and shouts "hey, don't DO that! You could hurt yourself!"

As if not listening, Ail continues to manipulate Patchouli's healing energies and says "something's not right. Even Agava herself was injured, and pretty badly too. I feel... I feel this isn't over by the least. This time, I don't know what might happen. Flandre never told me about this..."

Patchouli loses her concentration when she hears Flandre's name and asks "Flandre!? What do you mean? How does she know all this!?"

Ail looks at Patchouli so seriously; she could feel a cold chill expelling from his eyes as he says "I said too much. Flandre's not at fault here. She doesn't eve know anything. Not in this era."

Patchouli gasps and shouts "not ANOTHER WORD! I understand now. Ail, that is serious business! You already said things have changed from what you already know. This is dangerous."

Ail looks at Remilia as she starts to moan.

Patchouli immediately continues the healing, while Ail manipulates the energy as Patchouli says "you just said that things have changed from what you know. Ail, don't treat these events like you know them, because if you do, things like this could happen again, understand!? You understand that time doesn't go in a straight line. It's always moving in different directions, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Just knowing what lies ahead is just the beginning, since you don't know what path you'll take to reach that point."

Ail opens his eyes widely and stares at Patchouli as she continues.

"You already know what's going to happen, that's good. Now you have to prepare yourself to deal with these things as unknown to you! You've already experienced what I'm talking about. Now, at least, you have gained this wisdom, so please, for whatever is to happen next, treat it as something unknown to you. Take precautions, have backup plans, but DON'T treat these like you already know what's going to happen."

Ail continues to stare at Patchouli for a moment, and just as Remilia wakes up he says "thank you so very much... Patchouli."

Patchouli smiles and says "please... call my Patchy."

Remilia yawns and rubs her head and asks "so, what's going on here?"

-

Reimu, Meiling and Mima help the injured fairy maids back to their rooms and regroup close to Sakuya's room. There, Reimu takes a look at Meiling's neck.

Mima hands Reimu and few bandages after she treats Meiling's neck and says "you're very lucky, Meiling. A little deeper and you'd be in trouble."

Meiling tries to turn her head and face Reimu, but instead is met by sharp pain.

She yelps and Reimu tells her "don't move, you idiot. I'm almost done here."

Meiling sighs and says "well, at least the little sister is back to her senses again. I really wasn't looking forward to lock her up like that again."

Sakuya comes out of her room wearing a white robe over her sleeping clothes and asks "and what exactly is going on around here?"

Mima, Reimu and Meiling all freeze in a shock and surprise. Meiling and Reimu stand up next to Mima and stutter for a moment.

Sakuya looks at them seeming a little annoyed and says "ok, calm down, you three. I just want to know what's going on? Why are you here, and more importantly, who let the evil spirit inside? And... Meiling, what happened to YOU!?"

Reimu gets closer to Sakuya and takes a deep breath. From outside the mansion, Sakuya's "WHAT!?" echoes in the distance, all the way to the Misty Lake.

Sakuya tries to run to her mistress' room, but she was still a little weak from her injury. Reimu and Mima get beside her, pull her up, wrap her arms around their necks and walk as fast as they can toward Remilia's room.

"My poor mistress. I should have healed faster!" says Sakuya.

Reimu scolds her "calm down. Getting all emotional now won't help either of you. Besides, Ail and Patchouli are with her. She probably walking around just-"

Right in front of them, Remilia, Ail and Patchouli stand, listening to their conversation.

Immediately, Ail says "Reimu... This isn't over."

Reimu smiles and says "well, hello you three. My, Remilia, you got your wings and leg back I see. And Ail, what the hell are you talking about?"

Sakuya frees herself from Reimu and Mima, then kneels to her mistress while saying "my lady, I'm so sorry! I'll protect you with my life from now on!"

Remilia blushes a little and says "Sakuya, you're making a scene! Get up! And it's not your fault!"

Ail says "Patchy and I talked about this event, and we think things happened to quickly and too easily."

Reimu's smile vanishes and asks "so you think it's not over?"

Patchouli shakes her head and says "from what we can understand, something did not happen, that should have happened."

Reimu sighs and asks "any ideas when something might happen?"

Both shake their heads, then Mima asks "is there something I should know?"

-

Meiling rushes to a lonely corner in the mansion, holding her neck in pain, breathing heavily and cringing her face, trying to hold back her tears of pain.

Even with the treatment and the bandages on, blood still comes out as if there was nothing holding it back.

She whimpers and looks around, hoping nobody would see her, then heads to her room and locks the door.

Flandre watched everything, but thinking Meiling hated her now, after biting her like that, she decides not to go to her, or say anything to the others.

-

Morning at the Hakurei Shrine. Somehow, Maribel and Renko managed to calm Budou down during the night. The little bat youkai was sleeping next to Kyo and Medicine, completely unaffected by the doll's poison.

Ail, Mima and Reimu arrive and quietly enter the shrine, Reimu and Mima finding the sleeping Budou so adorable, they had to kneel down and pat her head, waking her up while doing so.

She yawns and smacks her lips, smiling at Mima and Reimu, who blush as they smile back.

She spots Ail, and lunges to him shouting "papa Ail, you're back! *Gasp* You got hurt!"

Ail smiles as she give him a hug, hugging her back and saying "it's nothing, Budou. Just a little scratch."

Budou stares at Ail's neck for a moment then says "ah, the sparkles are curing you."

Ail wonder what she means, but just rubs her head as they both smile and places her on the floor.

Kyo wakes up and Budou says "look, large brother. Papa Ail is back!"

Ail laughs and asks "large brother?"

Budou giggles and says "well of course. He's really large, but very kind too."

Kyo looks at her a little annoyed and says "I'm getting on a diet!"

Ail chuckles and says "don't think about it too much."

Reimu stares curiously at Kyo and asks "and... where is Luna?"

Ail turns his face away to look outside upon hearing Luna's name.

Kyo looks at Reimu and says "the most odd thing happened yesterday. She decided to become that reporter's apprentice, so she's staying with her now."

Ail turns around to face Reimu. She had a smirk on her face that suggested success as she says "really? Well, that's good. Seems she made a good friend out of Aya."

Medicine moans while she sleeps, getting everyone's attention.

Reimu's smirk disappears as she says "poor youkai. She won't see her friend for some time."

Kyo shouts "WHAT!? What do you mean?"

Reimu looks at Kyo and says "until the tengu decide she is fit to be released, she'll have to stay with them, and obey their every command."

Kyo gets very agitated and shouts "wait, that's not fair! What about us!? What about those that care about her!?"

Reimu stares dangerously at Kyo and says "they are doing this for her sake, Kyo. Just endure it. The alternate outcome would have been much worse anyway."

Kyo grabs his hair in a rage, pacing back and forth and asking "but why!? What did she ever do to them!? I don't understand this... I'm going to find out-!"

Ail gets in front of the door and lightly shakes his head.

Reimu calmly says "Kyo... she tried to kill Sakuya in a most brutal way. I told you to keep an eye on her, but then again, you did try to help her."

Kyo was about to complain again, but he just sits down on the floor and asks "what was the alternate outcome, Reimu?"

Reimu closes her eyes and says "death."

Kyo rubs his head and tries to smile as he says "I-I see. I never though she would try to kill here too... I'm sorry for bringing her over."

Reimu smiles and says "when the tengu are done with her, you won't be thinking that."

-

At Makai, Shinki wakes Yuki up early in the morning.

Normally, Yuki would fall asleep again, even at the table, while eating breakfast, however this time, she managed stay awake the whole time... or so they thought.

Shinki looks at Yuki almost impressed and asks "Yuki, don't you want to go back to sleep?"

Yuki did not reply, or do anything. Just continues to stare at her meal.

Shinki sighs and says "Yuki, please answer me."

Yumeko gets closer to Yuki and says "Yuki, you are being rude. Lady Shinki asked you a question!"

Yuki slowly raises her head, and very slowly turns her face to them. She smiles and waves, then lowers her hand and stays in that position.

Yumeko and Shinki both jump up while yelping. Yuki's eyes look empty as she smiles at them.

Shinki trembles and asks "Yu-Y-Yumeko? I-I-Is Yuki... alive?"

Yumeko sweats and gets closer, trembling as she did.

"Yuki?" calls Yumeko softly as she waves her hand in front of Yuki's eyes.

Yumeko suddenly scowls and says "she's just ASLEEP!"

Shinki places her hand on her chest, takes a deep breath of relief and says "oh, thank goodness. I though she was dead."

Suddenly, Yuki shakes her head, smiles and ask "Oh, Shinki... what did I miss?"

Yumeko looks surprised and says "Yuki? Are you back to normal now?"

Yuki realizes she was being her old self, so she immediately turns to face her plate and says "I'm sorry, Lady Shinki... miss Yumeko."

Yumeko gets disappointed, and goes to help Shinki back to her chair.

When Shinki is back on her chair, she says "well Yuki, glad to see you so well behaved. Today we are going into Gensokyo and will be visiting Alice."

Yuki's face turns pale. She bangs her hands on the table and shouts "but why must I go too!?"

Yumeko angrily says "we do NOT bang the table, young lady!"

Shinki then says "Well, you've been to Gensokyo twice already, and I could use your help so I don't get lost, alright?"

Yuki tries to argue, but cannot find any way to escape, so she drops her arms and sounding almost depressed she says "okay~ I'll go."

Shinki smiles and says "excellent. We leave in a few hours."

-

After arriving home, Ail and Budou sit on the living room's couch.

Ail grabs a book and starts to read it, and soon after, Budou gets on his lap and just watches him read.

Ail smiles lightly and says "hey Budou... GRAH~!"

Ail puts on plastic vampire teeth and scares Budou.

She twitches and gasps, then suddenly she starts to cry.

Ail immediately takes off the fake teeth and says "wait, wait, don't cry. Look, their fake"

From the kitchen, looking fiercely angry comes Sanae, punches Ail hard on the head, growling "leave her alone, you bully!" then grabs Budou in her arms and says "shh, shh, it's ok. I took care of that mean monster!"

Budou stops crying and realizes she's safely in Sanae's arms and shouts "mama Sanny~!" giving Sanae a hug.

Ail rubs the sizzling bump on his head and says "Sanae... what a pleasant surprise."

Sanae angrily replies "can it! Now care to tell me why you went and took on that first event WITHOUT telling me a thing?"

Ail sadly sighs and says "it happened too fast. I barely had time to prepare, and... so many things went wrong."

Sanae changes her expression from anger to concern and asks "what happened. That gate guard didn't... 'go away', right?"

Ail pats Budou while Sanae keeps holding her and says "no... Sit down. I'll get you some tea and then we can talk. Before that..."

Ail looks at Sanae with the outmost of curiosity and asks "how did you get in here? Budou and I only just got back."

Sanae places her index finger on her cheek and looks up as she hums and thinks, then asks "lady Moriya? How DID we get here?"

Suwako was rummaging around Ail's kitchen, but stops and stares at Sanae. The only thing the others could see were the eyes on Suwako's hat as they blink at them.

Suwako takes a deep breath and says "well, it's simple-"

Outside Ail's house, the wind blows strongly, trapping poor Wriggle in the strong gales. She flaps her arms desperately, trying to break free of the gusts or manage to hang on to a tree, but fails.

Back inside Ail's house "...and that's how we go in so quickly." finishes Suwako.

Sanae smiles and asks "ohh, I see... And what are you doing there?"

Suwako's hat blinks again when she says "ah, I saw this-..."

Back outside, poor Wriggle manages to hang on to a branch, but as soon as she takes a breath of relief, a snake hisses in her face, threatening to eat her.

She panics and lets go of the branch, preferring to ride the strong gusts, than to be eaten by a vicious snake.

Just below the tree, three mischievous fairies giggle, then the snake vanishes as they continue their way back home, however, the branch Wriggle was holding on to snaps and falls on Sunny and Luna.

Star just panics and tries to fly away, but is carried away by the winds.

Back inside, Suwako finishes her story saying "...but I lost it, so it's ok."

Both Sanae and Ail look at Suwako with disgust as Budou giggles and says "big sister is funny!"

-

At the gate to Makai in Gensokyo, Shinki and Yuki walk toward Sara.

Sara sits on a stump, next to a sign that said "Gate to Makai. Keep Out!"

Once she sees Shinki and Yuki, she spring up and bows her head to Shinki as she says "Lady Shinki. Welcome. Yu--ki? Is something wrong?"

Sara quickly realizes Yuki's face is filled with both fright and anger.

Shinki smiles to Sara and says "good morning, Sara. Please, don't mind us. We're just here to visit."

Sara stares at Yuki for a moment, then turns her attention to Shinki.

Sounding a little worried, yet managing to smile, Sara says "yes, of course, Lady Shinki. Is everything ok?"

Shinki smiles and says "why yes, thanks for asking. OH, could you tell me where to find the Maiden in red and white?"

Sara points her to the shrine and says "it's that way. Please tell me if you need anything else."

Shinki smiles again and says "thank you. Oh, that'll be alright. Yuki will help me from here on. Come on, Yuki."

Just before lifting to the air, Shinki and Yuki bow their heads to Sara, while Yuki quietly mumbles "s-sorry to bother you."

Sara tries to reply, but both lift up to the air and fly away quickly.

She waves at them and quietly says "no bother... at all. Oh dear. Was that really Yuki?"

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu is quietly sweeping the courtyard, while Mima cooks breakfast, promising it was going to be 'to die for'.

She rests her head on the broom and yawns, then, without turning around, she says "Shinki, Yuki, welcome to Gensokyo. How can I help you?"

Shinki was surprised, but politely replies "miss shrine maiden. You knew we were here already?"

Reimu stands up straight, and while still holding on to her broom she turns around and says "your presence is too easily recognizable."

Shinki smiles and bows at Reimu and says "is it ok if I visit her today?"

Reimu tilts her head a little to the right and says "sure, go ahead. But why ask me?"

Yuki steps forward and says "because it's the... p-proper thing to do. Right Lady Shinki?"

Shinki smiles and nods. Reimu was so surprised at the polite reply from Yuki, she leaves her mouth open as she stares.

Yuki gets a little uncomfortable and asks "w-what is it?"

Reimu closes her mouth, having realized her rude staring and looks at Shinki.

Shinki nods at Reimu, and immediately realizing there was another reason for the visit, Reimu nods back and says "Oh, I'm sorry Yuki. I didn't mean to stare like that. I'm probably still a bit sleepy, that's all."

Yuki stares suspiciously at Reimu, but she nods and politely says "i-it's ok. No need to apologize."

Shinki smiles again and says "well, we better get going then. Yuki, be a dear and take me to Alice's house."

Yuki twitches when Shinki mentions Alice's name, but manages to hide her emotions and says "sh-sure thing L-Lady Shinki."

As they lift off onto the air again, Shinki says "thank you for your time, miss maiden."

Reimu waves and casually says "sure... have fun now."

As soon as they leave, Reimu feels a great amount of fear and sadness, making her feel breathless, her heart beating so fast she feels as if it's about to pop out.

She clenches her chest, trying to divert her attention from the pain in her heart as she kneels on the ground, gasping for air, tears falling from her eyes.

Suddenly, the pain goes away, the tears dry up, her heart relaxes, and she is able to stand up again.

She looks toward the Scarlet Devil Mansion, then toward the Human Village, and then to the Forest of Magic.

She asks herself "what-- what the hell was that!? Where is it coming from?"

She continues to look around, when she is suddenly trapped inside a bloody room, the walls beating to the rhythm of her heart and spewing out blood.

She looks around and tries to call for help, but she can't shout.

She notices a door and runs toward it, but as soon as she got close, a blue figure that looked just like Ail gets in her way. She smiles at him, but all he does is look away with a sad expression, then vanishes.

Reimu reaches for the door as soon as Ail's figure vanishes, and as soon as she opens it, a pair of violet eyes meet her own, then suddenly, everything goes dark.

Reimu gasps as she wakes up and gets up from the floor. She touches her chest and says to herself "what... I'm... alive?"

From inside the shrine, Mima shouts "Breakfast is almost ready. We just have to wait until the tentacles stop moving!"

Reimu feels sick for a moment and says "great. I think I rather be dead after all."

-

At the Scarlet Devil mansion, by the gate stands Meiling, continuing her lonely gate guard duties since Sakuya has recovered well enough to work again.

Meiling's eyes look dark, and she was feeling more tired and colder than usual. She also returned her breakfast shortly after positioning herself by the gate.

She passes her left hand by the bandages covering the bite wounds on her neck and realizing the bleeding has stopped, she sighs with relief.

She stands up straight and crosses her arms behind her, remaining alert to her surroundings.

As the minutes pass she starts feeling more and more winded. She breathers through her mouth and lightly coughs.

She continues to breath through her mouth, more and more heavily as time passes by. She sees her own breath against the cold winds of winter as she continues to breathes through her mouth, and suddenly a sharp pain strikes her stomach.

She grits her teeth, holds her sides and kneels on the ground.

For a second, the pain subsides, but suddenly it returns. Her eyes go blank as she holds her stomach as tightly as she could, then vomits an unusual amount of blood on the ground.

She was frightened. Even for a youkai as tough as her, vomiting blood is a bad sign.

-

From the front door Sakuya calls "Meiling~! Meiling, could you come over here!?" Meiling!?"

Meiling panics and desperately punches the ground beside her blood, softening the dirt and managing to dig out enough to hide the blood under it.

Sakuya walks to the gate and spots Meiling digging, and a little angry she asks "Meiling, I'm calling- What are you doing?"

Meiling springs up from the ground, ignoring the unpleasant feeling in her entire body, salutes Sakuya and exclaims "I-I'm sorry miss Sakuya. Please don't be mad! I was just, err... training! Yeah, that's it!"

Sakuya looks at her suspiciously for a moment, but then shrugs and says "well, whatever. Look, I need you to help me carry the clothes basket. My wound still hurts a little and I can't lift it up on my own."

Meiling salutes her again and exclaims "RIGHT! Leave it to me!"

Sakuya gets a little annoyed and says "you don't have to sound to enthusiastic about it."

Meiling shivers, trying to hold her posture as she nervously chuckles.

Sakuya looks at her suspiciously and asks "are you ok? You look a little pale."

Meiling chuckles nervously again and says "I'm fine! Just like every day. Nope, nothing wrong with me, you can be certain about that!"

Sakuya sighs and says "fine, fine... Just... come inside and help me a little."

Meiling sweats as she follows Sakuya inside, hoping she won't have another one of those fits in front of her.

-

At Alice's house, Alice wakes up from a dream where she hands a silver dagger to Yuki, telling her to 'do it' and snickering as she did.

Alice gasps as she remembers how in the dream, Yuki slices her own throat without hesitation. Alice continues to think that it was all her fault.

She jumps out of bed and says to Shanghai "I'm going to Makai. I have to speak with Yuki and tell her I'm sorry."

The little doll blinks and nods, then follows Alice outside after she was done dressing up.

When Alice opens the door, she's met by a surprise, as Shinki is just about to knock.

For a moment, Alice and Shinki stare at each other without making a move, or even smiling at each other.

Suddenly, Shinki breaks the awkward moment with a smile and says "A-Alice? Is... is that you, Alice? It's me... It's Shinki!"

Alice covers her mouth, which she leaves wide open as she gasps.

For a moment, it looked like she was about to close the door, run away, or possibly even faint, but instead, she dashes toward Shinki and gives her a hug.

While they hug, Shinki says "Alice, my little Alice. You've grown so much... and so quickly too."

Alice repliess "lady Shinki. I missed you so much!" as they continue to hug by the doorway on Alice's house.

-

At the Youkai Mountain, Kyo is trying to infiltrate the tengu's domain along with Medicine. They want Luna, and they plan on getting her back.

They manage to get behind the waterfall, on to a large opening, leading onto a well lit cave. Kyo signals Medicine to follow him closely, but quickly realizes they are trapped.

Medicine was surrounded by three tengu, all pointing large lances at her neck.

Kyo unleashes his energy, generating his energy sword and shield.

He though he could take all three out with a single swipe, but from behind him Momiji says "miss Aya though something like this could happen and asked to keep you away by any means necessary, mister Kaizo"

Kyo slowly turns around with an annoyed look on his face and says "don't call me that!"

He notices Momiji has a shield with a maple leaf design, and a really long scimitar.

He smirks and chuckles then says "don't get in my way. I don't want to hurt you all."

Momiji prepares a defensive stance as she glares at Kyo.

Again, Kyo chuckles and says "I beat an oni, and a pretty strong one at that. What hope of stopping me do you think you possibly have?"

Momiji continues to glare at Kyo, strengthening her stance as she did.

Kyo chuckles again, shrugs and says "fine. Have it your way."

Kyo rushes toward Momiji and strikes with his full power.

Momiji uses her shield to defend herself, avoiding a direct impact, but the raw power of Kyo's strike sends her flying back against a wall, cracking the stone wall upon impact.

Kyo smiles as Momiji falls on the ground, thinking he has attained victory. He turns around to free Medicine from the other tengu, but they were all gone. "What the-? Where did they go?"

Momiji struggles to stand back up, but using her sword as at support, she manages to get up.

She takes a few breaths and says "I will not let you pass."

She struggle a little, but manages to stance defensively again.

Kyo makes the energy shield on his left arm turn to formless energy, then he joins his hands together and generates a large sword the same size of his own body.

He glares at Momiji and says "I'm not leaving without Luna."

-

Back at Alice's house, Alice, Shinki and Yuki sit in the living room, Shinki and Alice catching up with each other as Yuki quietly listens, looking nervously at Alice every time they looked into each others eyes.

Alice feels a tug in her heart, and wants to say how sorry she is to Yuki, but she gets distracted when talking to Shinki.

"Are you sure you're ok living like this? So far away from others, always by yourself?" asks Shinki.

Alice smiles and replies "yeah, I really do. My dolls keep me company, and believe it or not, I do have some friends."

Yuki giggles, but immediately covers her mouth while looking at Alice with panic in her eyes.

Yuki lowers her arms and tries to calm down while saying "I'm so sorry. I-I didn't mean to-"

Alice gets up from her chair and slowly walks toward Yuki.

Yuki's heart beats faster as Alice gets closer. She could feel her entire body trembling, fearful of what Alice might do, or say to her this time.

Alice stops right in front of her and kneels so that their eyes could meet.

Yuki's eyes get filled with tears as she trembles violently, looking into Alice's eyes. "I-I'm so sorry sis... Alice!" says Yuki, hoping her apology was not in vain.

She looks back into Alice's eyes and notices she was also crying.

Suddenly, Alice bows her head and says "please forgive me, Yuki!"

Shinki smiles while still sitting on the chair, but doesn't turn around. She just waits and listens.

Yuki could not believe her ears. She stops trembling and looks at Alice, directly into her eyes.

Alice then adds "I'm sorry, Yuki! I said really mean things to you, and I hurt you, and.. I'm so very sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

For a moment, Yuki thought she was dreaming, so she touches her face, then Alice's and says "I'm not dreaming... Sis? You forgive me for being a nuisance?"

Alice sniffles and says "no, don't apologize! I'm the one who must apologize. I didn't mean all those things! I was just so angry, and I wasn't thinking. I just... I acted like a child. I'm sorry."

For a moment, it looked as though Yuki wouldn't accept Alice's apology, but very suddenly she gasps with a smile on her face, and in a high-pitched tone of voice she exclaims "of course I forgive you~!"

Yuki spring up from her chair, grabs Alice and forces a tight, bone-cracking hug.

As she hugs Alice she adds "but you gotta forgive me as well, ok!?"

Trying to gasp for air, Alice replies "of course... I forgive you... sis..."

When Yuki realizes she was hugging Alice too tightly so she loosens her grip.

Alice falls limp on Yuki's hands with a smile on her face as a little white spirit floats upward from inside her smiling mouth.

"Alice, are you ok?" asks Yuki, looking curiously at the ghost escaping from Alice.

-

At the tengu's mountain, behind the waterfall, Kyo holds a large energy sword he made by using both hands, sacrificing his energy shield.

Momiji holds her defensive stance, awaiting Kyo's next move.

He rushes to her and swings the enormous blade at her.

Momiji sprints out of the way and shoots some danmaku at Kyo that quickly impacts him.

He takes a few deep breaths to ignore the pain as he lifts up the large energy blade. The blade had left a large hole where it landed.

Momiji looks at it and thinks "it's powerful, but I'm faster, and he can't manage it well enough. I can win this, miss Aya!"

Kyo stances with his sword at the same height as his head, pointing at Momiji.

He keeps his sights on her as he says "I don't really want to hurt you, but you're in my way. Back-off now and let me pass, or I WILL use force."

Momiji changes her stance, lowering her shield and raising her scimitar above her head and says "invaders must be dealt with, regardless of who he, or she is."

Kyo smirks and quickly runs toward Momiji, shouting as he did.

As soon as he was in range, he thrusts the energy sword toward Momiji, but she manages to jump away just in time, flips while in the air, releasing danmaku on top of Kyo's head, then lands a few feet away, repositioning herself in the same stance as before, glaring at Kyo.

He rubs his head and growls, then turns around and shouts "now you're gonna GET IT!"

Again, he summons one sword in each hand, then joins them together, creating a large energy blade once more.

He feels tired. His body is starting to feel sluggish. Kyo knows he can't take much more of this.

"Dammit all! Why the hell am I so tired already? I defeated Suika, so why can't I beat this weakling!?" thinks Kyo as he looks around, hoping to find something he could use against Momiji.

He fails to find anything to use to his advantage and thinks "If I lose now, Youmu will never let me hear the end of it! Let alone Suika... That's it. I'm going all out with this attack."

Kyo shouts as he expels great amounts of energy and sending it all into his energy sword, making it grow in size and glow with power.

Momiji flinches for a moment, but quickly recovers and firmly remains in her stance.

Kyo shouts as he rushes to her again.

He is just inches away from her, so he raises his sword and swings it down with might.

Momiji lunges to him and swings her sword straight to his neck.

Kyo manages to block her blade just before it reaches his neck, but fails to notice Momiji spinning like a top beside him, gaining momentum by the second, then she uses her shield and strikes Kyo at the back of his his head, sending him flying out the waterfall and down to the river.

Before he plunges into the water, Momiji manages to quickly catch him by the back of his shirt, and tosses him back on dry land next to Medicine, who was sitting by the other three tengu, quietly fishing.

-

At Alice's house, Yuki and Alice, having finally made up, were having a good time, just talking and enjoying a peaceful chat along with Shinki.

Alice gets up and says "ah, I'll go make us some more tea. Would anyone like some cookies as well?"

Yuki raises her hand as she smiles and shouts "ooh, ohh, me, me, me! I want cookies!"

Alice sighs and says "fine, just calm down."

Shinki giggles, getting the attention from Alice and Yuki.

Shinki stops giggling and says "look at you two. You both look so happy now. Yuki, I'm glad to see you back to yourself again, but..."

Yuki and Alice look curiously at Shinki as she gets up and says "Yuki, child. Don't you think that after this experience, you should behave a little more?"

Yuki thinks for a moment as Shinki continues "and Alice. You see how a little patience can go a long way, am I right?"

Both girls look at each other, unable to say anything.

Shinki laughs and says "what I'm saying is, through this experience, didn't you two learn anything about yourselves and each other?"

Alice smiles and says "I guess... you're right. I did learn a little something."

Yuki sighs and says "I guess behaving a little more maturely wouldn't hurt."

Shinki wraps her arms around Alice and pulls her down as she wraps her other arm around Yuki and says "but you know, even mature women like ourselves can have some fun from time to time, right?"

Alice blushes a little as she says "well... yeah, I guess."

Yuki adds "sure. Fun is always fun!"

Shinki smiles and says "glad to hear it."

Suddenly, bursting through the door come Mai, Yumeko, and Luize, all smiling and shouting "then let's have some fun today!"

Alice sweats when she sees all of them together like that in her house, but Shanghai pats her shoulder, then Alice smiles and says "this is going to be a fun reunion after all."

She then walks toward the three girls at the door and says "Yumeko, Luize, so glad to see you. It's been so long. Mai, so glad to see you again."

Yuki and Shinki smile, then Yuki says "whoa, Luize... you look so skinny. What happened to you?"

Although Luize smiles, a vein on the side of her forehead showed great anger as she says "I've... been on an unnecessary diet, thanks to SOMEONE here!"

Yuki looks at her curiously, then smiles and says "aww~ You're in love? Who's the poo--lucky fella?"

Luize clenches her fist and shouts "I'll SHOW you 'fat hag' you brat!" and suddenly, Alice's front yard becomes a small battle field.

Shinki sighs as she stands by Alice's side and placing a hand on Alice's shoulder she says "how about that tea?"

Alice gulps and says "y-yeah... good idea."

-

At the bottom of the waterfall, Kyo lies face-up on the ground, but is unable to get up.

Momiji stares at him with her ears lowered and says "I'm sorry, mister Ka-Kyo. Aya asked me to keep you away, and I will not fail miss Aya."

Kyo calmly asks "how? How were you able to beat me so easily. I've beat Youmu, and Suika, but why not you?"

Momiji replies a little shocked, saying "you don't have to say it like THAT!"

She sighs and says "you are very strong and gifted, but you lack discipline with the sword and shield. You were just swinging wildly at me while I waited for my chance. Thanks to my training, I found a large gap in your defenses. *Sigh* I could have beaten you a lot quicker, if I wasn't so weak."

Kyo stares at the sky for a moment.

Medicine and the other three tengu were now playing cards, oddly enough 'Go Fish'. The tengu to the left asks "got any sevens?"

Medicine calmly replies "go fish."

Kyo manages to raise his head to look at Momiji and says "I understand...Luna will have to stay here for a while... I just wanted to see her, but..."

Momiji extends her hand and helps Kyo up.

He stays sitting on the ground and asks "can... can you train me? You know, to use my sword and shield a little better?"

Momiji scowls as she says "mister Kyo, please don't make fun of me!"

Kyo looks at her in the eyes and says "I'm not the kind to joke about this. Look, this isn't easy for me to say... I though I was doing great, the way I was going, but..."

Momiji sighs and says "I can help you, but... I'm very weak compared to others, or yourself even, so I don't know how much I can be of help to you."

Kyo manages to smile and says "then will you help me?"

Momiji crouches beside him and says "on one condition."

Kyo says "anything"

Momiji smiles and says "you will do exactly as I ask you to, without any complaints from your part, AND you will respect the tengu rules around her, understand?"

Kyo hesitates for a moment, then nods.

Momiji giggles and wags her tail as she says "wow, this makes me your master now."

Kyo looks up to the sky with disgust in his face as he thinks "great... now what did I get into this time? Gensokyo is such a pain... Great, I'm sounding just like Reimu now."

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu suddenly sneezes.

She sniffles as she rubs her nose with her finger and says "if I get a cold now, I'm gonna be in trouble."

From inside, Maribel is chasing a ball of yarn Mima was tossing around.

When the ball of yarn bounces back to Mima, causing Maribel to follow it straight to Mima, she grabs the blond cat girl and says "you are just so ADORABLE!!! I wanna eat you up!"

Maribel giggles, then suddenly she sneezes violently, sending out some of those pink energy hearts of hers, blasting Mima's face with a few.

She sniffles and immediately realizes her cat tail was gone.

She trembles as she touches her head, but feels the ears and says "*PHEW* still there *giggle*"

Mima looks at her a little annoyed and says "crap, the spell is wearing off."

-

At Ail's house, while Ail And Sanae speak about the events to come, Suwako and Budou rummage around the kitchen, looking for who-knows-what in there.

Budou opens her mouth and squeaks for a moment, then keeps quiet.

The high-pitched squeak made Ail and Sanae cover their ears in pain.

"What was that!?" exclaims Sanae.

Suwako calmly says "geez, you two look like you've never heard a bat use it's sonar before."

Ail asks "sonar?"

Budou suddenly says "ah, papa Ail, there are some rotten berries inside the cabinet. I'll clean them for you."

Ail looks at Suwako in shock.

Suwako looks back a little annoyed and says "yes, a bat sonar. They use it to see things around them. You know, you should read some animal books."

Sanae and Ail look at each other, smile and shrug.

-

At a small little house in an unknown area close to the Youkai Mountain, Minoriko and Shizuha Aki drop their heads on their table, looking depressed and continually sighing.

Shizuha says "oy, sis."

Minoriko replies without moving her head "yeah sis?"

Shizuha then lazily turns her head to face her sister with a depressed expression and says "we didn't do much this autumn, did we?"

Minoriko faces her sister, looking equally depressed and says "no... we didn't"

Shizuha then says "and winter is here."

Minoriko slowly nods and says "yeah... winter"

Shizuha sighs again and says "I don't like winter, sis."

Minoriko sighs as well and says "me neither sis. Me neither..."

From outside, Shizuha's scream echoes "AUTUMN~~!!! COME BACK TO U~S *sob*"

-

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN

Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and Budou were created by Willie G.R.

Assistance and ideas in making this chapter by snapshot

SEP 6 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	17. Chapter 16

And finally, Alice and Yuki made up. Yuki has come back to normal, and Alice it at peace with herself.

A party was held that day in Alice's house with all of her Makai friends. It took some doing, but Luize managed to convince Sara to join in, even for just a little while.

Yuki promised never to call Luize a 'fat hag' again; unless she wanted to play.

After the party was over and Shinki and her children left, Alice felt a little lonely, but she reminded herself that from now on, she could visit them whenever she wanted. She is also expecting surprise visits by Yuki and Mai as well.

-

Kyo and Momiji train hard each day, however, even though they train by the waterfall where the tengu live, Kyo hasn't seen Luna at all.

Medicine has stayed in touch with Kyo and has taken to visit the Youkai Mountain a lot more, playing all sorts of games with the tengu there.

Suika found out about Kyo's loss to Momiji, thanks to a shady report in Aya's Bunbunmaru Newspaper, and has spread the word far and wide.

Until his training with Momiji is done, he'll have to endure Suika's constant taunting.

Momiji sees this as a good chance to teach Kyo some humility, and to help him learn control.

Even though Aya and Luna haven't been seen, her newspaper is still being printed, and always, there is at least one article on Kyo's own training.

Kyo has sworn, next time he sees Aya, he's going to sit on her back until she begs for mercy.

-

Sanae was pretty angry at Ail for not telling her about the first event happening, but after Ail explained what happened, she forgives him, and rather quickly.

Budou and Suwako spent all that time rummaging through Ail's kitchen and found a golden colored cockroach, which Suwako's hat inexplicably ate.

Even Suwako herself was so surprised, she tossed the hat away, thinking it had been possessed, even though she was a holy deity, a.k.a. goddess.

Budou was brave enough to look inside the hat and noticed the roach was inside a small pocket inside the hat itself.

Suwako also found many items she though she had lost long ago after finding the hat's inside pocket.

After leaving Ail's house, Budou asked to stay with Sanae and Suwako for a few days.

Ail didn't want her to go, but she was so enthusiastic about it, he COULDN'T say no to her, and so she left with them. When he entered his house again, he looked around and felt all alone.

-

Winter comes with it's chilling winds, covering the entire land of Gensokyo in a white cold blanket.

Agava reunites with Rumia again, after recovering her eye, and although she claims she still wants to destroy Gensokyo, in her chest she feels a pain she's never felt before whenever she thinks of the few, yet fun innocent games with Flandre at the Scarlet Mansion.

Rumia just asks her "is that so!?" every time she claims to be nothing but evil.

This frustrates Agava to no ends, however the confusion in her mind keeps her from trying anything at the moment.

She and Rumia now hide around the Forest of Magic, or the small forest beside the Hakurei Shrine's mountain, waiting for winter to end.

-

Ever since vomiting that large amount of blood, Meiling has been scared to eat like she used to, added to the fact that she has also been losing her appetite and wakened considerably.

Sakuya has asked her about it, but she continues to assure her that everything is just fine.

She hasn't had another fit like the one before since that day, but she prefers not to give THAT a reason to happen again.

Day after day in the cold winter months, she stands guard at the gate, suffering the harsh cold weather like never before.

She now feels she's becoming weak, and that all of this suffering is punishment for her being so weak.

She tries to train like she used to, but her body continues to fail her, frustrating her and making her feel less of a youkai.

-

Cirno spends most of her winter days with Letty. Sometimes Daiyousei will join them, but she constantly leaves with the other fairies to play pranks on humans, or even other youkai.

Playing pranks on youkai does cost them a few days of pain, but for the love of fun, they continue to do so.

"Letty... I can feel it again." says Cirno.

Letty chuckles and says "Cirno, I told you it's probably nothing. Maybe you're eating something you shouldn't."

Cirno looks at Letty with a confused expression and says "perhaps that tasty brown drink at the shrine."

Letty giggles and says "see? You probably had too much and your body is reacting to it."

They continue to walk down the frozen paths of Gensokyo when Cirno replies "you sure know a lot, Letty!"

Although Cirno has no exceptional magic powers, even claiming to be the strongest in Gensokyo when she clearly isn't as strong as she claims, the little ice fairy feels something odd in the atmosphere, but being just a young fairy, nobody seems to listen to her, and she convinces herself that nothing is wrong after all.

-

At the Netherworld, Youmu battles an unknown threat, clad in a crystal colored armor.

Although her sword can penetrate the armor with ease, whoever is inside is unaffected by Youmu's attacks to the torso.

Youmu's face is covered in blood. A cut on her cheek, her forehead, under her right eye, and another on her head, where her black ribbon used to be, all done by a three-prong long spear.

Youmu is weak, her ghost half barely able to keep afloat. She uses her long sword to keep on her feet, while she uses her short sword to defend herself for as long as she can.

Yuyuko realizes Youmu is in danger, and flies as fast as she can to her. "Yuyuko-sama... I must protect... prote-"

The knight thrusts Youmu on the stomach with his spear just as she drops down her arm due to exhaustion.

She coughs some blood just as the knight flicks her off the spear back to the ground.

A barrage of colorful butterflies strike the knight, taking him by surprise, and momentarily knocking him to the ground.

Yuyuko goes to Youmu and holds her head up, but as she tries to pick her up, she feels Youmu's body is limp, her head falling victim to gravity, with nothing to resist it's pull.

"Youmu? Youmu!? You must wake up now, Youmu!" calls Yuyuko in vain, lightly shaking the half-human body of Youmu.

She sobs as she gently places Youmu's head back down, and turns to face the vicious knight.

Her eyes glow red as she angrily glares at the knight.

Before he is able to lunge at her, Yuyuko sends a colossal amount of colorful butterflies his way.

He tries spinning his spear to block the butterflies, but he only manages to stop a few of the thousands and thousands of butterflies headed his way.

He gasps in horror after realizing he was defeated, so he runs as fast as he can to the gate back to the world of the living.

Before he could escape, he is struck by so many butterflies, he looked like a cloud of dirt.

He manages to escape just as the butterflies impact all over, destroying his dropped spear, and almost destroying the ground as well.

Just outside the gate, the knight flies away so fast, the Prismriver think they were looking at a shooting star.

The three sisters look at each other, then shrug and continue to practice with their instruments.

-

Yuyuko's eyes continue to glow bright red as she floats from one side to the other around Youmu's body.

Even Youmu's ghost half is starting to fade away now.

There is time to save Youmu, but Yuyuko is in a berserk state and isn't thinking straight.

An ominous wind blows around Yuyuko as she stares at Youmu's body.

She stops floating around and bends down, reaching again for Youmu's head.

From behind them, a violet gap opens up, and Yuyuko attacks it without hesitation, firing a thin magenta beam, followed by 15 butteries.

Another gap opens in front, and again, Yuyuko quickly attacks with a barrage of butterflies.

Five more purple gaps open up at the same time around them. Yuyuko looks around nervously, waiting for something to come out of either gap, but a sixth gap opens behind her, followed by a white laser that knocks her to the ground.

While she's on the ground, Ail jumps out from one of the first 5 gaps and lands next to Youmu, immediately using a strange green energy that emanates from within him, and goes inside her.

Quietly, Yuyuko gets up and looms behind Ail, glaring at him, raising her arms above her head, preparing another attack, but she quickly stops when she notices Youmu's ghost half turning a bit more solid, and Youmu moaning softly.

She swoops down and hovers next to Ail, placing her face as close to Youmu's as she possibly could.

Youmu slightly opens her eyes and sighs "Yu~~yuko~~s~ama~".

Yuyuko's eyes turn back to their normal maroon color as she drops and kneels down next to Youmu and passes her fingers through her hair, shushing her and saying "no, don't talk now."

She looks at Ail and asks "why are you here, and when did you get here?"

Ail smiles and says "a little while ago... you went berserk and gave that knight a good scare. After that, you attacked me as well."

Yuyuko gasps, but Ail immediately shakes his head and says "don't worry about it. Youmu is safe now, you are back to normal, and all is well again."

Yuyuko stares at him and asks "did you know what was going on?"

Ail smiles again as he meets her eyes and says "I actually came here to visit, since Budou is still with Sanae and the goddesses. I arrived just as you filled the skies with those butterflies."

Yuyuko stares at Youmu now and says "he fought dirty. She tried her best and more, but he attacked from the back. Never the front."

Ail smiles and grabs Youmu, who's injury is now healed, then heads to Hakugyokurou followed closely by Yuyuko, who holds Youmu's ghost half.

-

At the Moriya shrine, Suwako is entertaining Budou by diving down underground and running around, making it look like her hat is scurrying all around the snow, creating fun shapes as she did.

Budou giggles and says "make a flower, big sis!"

Suwako smirks and says "one snow flower, coming up!"

She jumps high on to the air and dives down to the ground, as if diving underwater.

Her hat moves around quickly, making Budou giggle and clap her hands.

Suwako pops from underground and bows, then from the shrine, Sanae calls "Budou~! Look what gramma got for you~!"

Beside Sanae, with a forced smile, accompanied by a suppressed scowl, Kanako holds a large plate with grapes on it.

Budou gasps with excitement and immediately flies to Kanako.

She stops in front of Kanako, smiles and says "gramma Yasaka, may I have the plate, please?"

Kanako is unable to keep annoyed by Sanae's comment and smiles while blushing and saying "such a polite young child! Here you go."

After handing the plate to Budou, and watching her sit on the snow, eating one grape after another so contently, Kanako's nose bleeds a little.

Sanae says "my, she sure loves those grapes, doesn't she?"

Suddenly, Kanako grabs Sanae's right ear and says "oh yes, momma Sanny... now, what was that you called me?"

Sanae laughs as she says "ow, ow, hahaha, I'm sorry! Ouch, hahaha."

Suwako watches them for a moment, then smiles and says "ahh, what a tender mommy-granny moment."

Both stare angrily at Suwako, but the clever goddess points at Budou, who was also watching them.

Suwako smirks and says "now, now. Please be a good example for little Budou, you two."

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Maribel cries because her cat ears disappeared during the night, so Mima is trying to make another apple that will turn her back into a cat-girl.

Renko keeps telling her friend "just let it go~. Besides, isn't flying and shooting those hearts enough?"

Maribel clenches her fists and swings them beside herself while pouting and saying "I don't wanna. I want to have cute cat ears too!"

Reimu watches them through a small gap on her door. Her face is pale, her eyes look a little dim, and she's sweating a lot.

She closes the door to her room again and thinks "I must meditate some more... these feelings, this sensation... it's just too much. Why am I feeling like this? What's with all these dreams of Ail and Budou, and those eyes...?"

Reimu sits on the very center of the room, crosses her legs and expands her arms.

She takes a deep breath, and as she exhales, a vision of Budou looking sadly at Ail, who was crying by her feet fills her mind.

From behind both of them, Reimu herself comes and and strikes them both with her bare hands.

Everything turns too bright for her to see the rest, but all she hears is wicked laughter from a woman's voice she's never heard before, and a large pair of aquamarine eyes looking at her.

Reimu gasps and holds her chest as she breathes heavily, sweating so much that it drips down to the floor. She bends down until her forehead touches the floor, then slowly gets back up.

The excessive sweating stops, her color returns, and Reimu is able to stand up.

She takes another deep breath and says "I must save them... is that it?"

From outside, she hears Marisa being as loud as ever in the living room, cheering Maribel up with fake stories of herself beating Reimu.

Reimu places her hand on her forehead and thinks "she's being annoying. I better do something about that."

She comes out of her room and says "Marisa, you are being loud!"

Marisa replies "is that any way to greet a guest, ze...? Oy, Reimu... what's the matter?"

Marisa immediately notices something's wrong with Reimu, but Reimu smiles and says "nothing. Just feeling a little sick, but I'm ok now."

Marisa stares suspiciously at Reimu for a moment. Maribel and Renko look at Marisa,then at Reimu as well, but then look to each other and shrug.

Reimu smiles and says "stop looking at me like that. I told you, I'm fine."

Marisa looks away and says "fine, but if you feel something's wrong, you tell me right away, zei."

Reimu quietly nods then asks "so, anybody else want some tea?"

-

Other than those events, and some minor incidents involving three mischievous fairies and a doll maker, winter was quiet and calm.

Budou asked Sanae to let her go back to Ail's house on her own, and so she did.

She returned to Ail's house on her own during a light snowstorm.

Ail was proud of her, of course, but though he'd give Sanae and the goddesses a piece of his mind when he saw them again, but then he noticed Suwako had been following Budou from underground the whole time.

Both Suwako and Ail nod to each other before Suwako headed back home, where Kanako had a vengeance battle against her and Sanae for calling her gramma, taking advantage of Budou's presence.

Although beaten, Suwako and Sanae continued to smile, admitting those were the best two weeks of their lives, even after the beating.

Snowstorm after snowstorm, struck the land of Gensokyo over and over, so Ail used his powers to help humans, fairies and youkai alike, whose houses had been buried by the snow, their doors and windows frozen solid, or simply, helping those whose food supplies had run short find some more.

Finally, on the last week of winter, when the snowstorms had subsided, and the roads were becoming visible again, Mima asked Renko and Maribel to get some ingredients from Eirin's clinic, however she didn't give them the money to pay.

Thankfully, Ail was visiting Entei that day...

-

Eirin places a vial with some dark-blue colored liquid in it and says "that'll be 50 thousand yen, please."

Renko and Maribel open their eyes widely in surprise, then Renko shouts "WHA~T!? Isn't that a little too much?"

Eirin smiles and calmly says "the ingredients used to make this compound are exceedingly rare, and the work put into this, so it comes out just right, is very exhausting. 50 thousand yen. No less."

Maribel and Renko look at each other quite worried.

Maribel whispers to Renko "so did miss Mima give you the money?"

Renko shakes her head and whispers back "look, why don't you just forget the whole thing?"

Maribel whispers back "no way! There has to be something we can do!"

Eirin continues to smile, however the atmosphere around her is getting dangerous, and it is just a matter of time before Renko and Maribel would overstay their welcome at the clinic.

Maribel quickly asks "can we work for it?"

Eirin ponders, but before she replies, from behind the two girls comes Ail and hands Eirin the money.

"This should cover it, am I right?" asks Ail.

Eirin smiles, rests her back on her chair and says "that'll do just fine. Been working your butt off, I see. No injuries?"

Ail nods, then says "not one."

Maribel happily gasps and exclaims "mister Ail! We haven't seen you by the shrine in some time!"

Ail turns around with a grin on his face and says "well, Budou and I have been visiting early in the mornings."

Renko asks "where did you get so much money?"

Ail smiles and says "been helping out around a lot, and saving what I've earned."

Eirin chuckles and says "ahh, the responsible parent."

Ail turns around and glares at Eirin, then smiles and says "I guess you could say that."

Maribel then asks "so where is little Budou."

Before answering, Ail grabs the vial and hands it to Renko, then looks at Maribel and says "*sigh* she went to visit the Moriya Shrine again."

Maribel smiles mischievously and says "oh, you miss her huh?"

Ail blushes a little, and nods with a smile.

Before they leave, Eirin says "come back soon, and remember to tell that evil spirit, that chemical is only good for three days."

-

Ail decides to escort Renko and Maribel back to the shrine, and they didn't mind the company at all.

They talk about their winter days as they continue their way.

They are about to exit the Bamboo Forest, when suddenly, a girl holding an eggplant colored umbrella with a large tongue sticking out, and an eye above the tongue springs out from the bamboo shouting "BOO~!"

She has short turquoise hair, her left eye is red, while her right one is blue, and she wears a turquoise vest with long white sleeves, a light-blue skirt, and a pair of wooden sandals.

Maribel and Renko look with curiosity as Ail shouts and waves his hands around, then shoots a single bullet straight at the girl, which strikes her forehead.

Ail stops and stares at the girl, who yelps and falls on the ground after the bullet hits her.

She rubs her forehead, but takes her hand away when she feels the burn from the bullet.

Ail panics again and shouts "aah, I'm so sorry!!"

The girl's eyes fill with tears, then she runs away crying.

Renko reprehensibly says "Ail, how could you do that!?"

Maribel adds "that was so mean, mister Ail!"

Ail sweats and says "w-wait, she just surprised me, that's all... ohh... WAIT!" he shouts as he chases after the girl that had just surprised him.

-

Deep inside the Bamboo Forest, the girl sobs as she wipes her forehead with a small white napkin.

She shivers after touching the burned spot again, then says "h-humans are so *sob* mean!"

From above her, Ail hovers and listens to her. He quietly comes down and says "hi..."

The girl gasps and is about to run away when Ail shouts "no wait, I just wanted to say I'm sorry!"

The girl stops and stares at him as he says "you just surprised me, and I kinda lost control there... sorry..."

She continues to stare at him curiously.

He smiles and says "I'm Ail... what's your name, miss?"

Her cheeks turn a little pink, and before telling her name, she asks "you followed me to say you're sorry? That's mean! I'm a youkai, not a human!"

Ail nods and says "well, that's no reason to NOT apologize either way."

The girl pouts then says "fine... My name is Kogasa Tatara, and you better be prepared. You will be my meal for a long time, you scaredy cat!"

Ail bows, smiles and says "I hope to see you soon, then."

Kogasa sticks her tongue out at him, which almost made him laugh, since she almost looks like that umbrella she carries.

As she flies away, she thinks "that human... was he making fun of me? Maybe he wants me to lower my guard so he can kill me... but..."

She turns around and watches as he finishes waving at her with a smile, then turns away and heads back to the other two humans.

She smiles and says "well, kind or not, I found a good source of food."

-

Renko, Maribel and Ail continue the walk to the Hakurei Shrine after the little incident with Kogasa.

They were close to the stairs to the shrine, when suddenly, from one of the trees to their left, Agava jumps, shouting "RA~!" and clinging on Ail's face.

She pulls her body up, trying to pull his head off and grumbling "you~! I'm going to destroy you, and then, I'll take on that shrine maiden, and then, free myself from this cursed lifestyle I've had to get USED TO!"

Ail doesn't even bother to fake a surprise and sounding a bit annoyed, he says "get off, or I'll get you off the hard way, little Agava!"

Agava trembles when Ail threatens her, then gets off him.

She pretends not to be scared by saying "you are just lucky I don't have my full powers, or you would be so~ sorry, mister!"

From behind her, Rumia says "is that so~? Well, first you would have to beat me~."

Ail smiles and says "hello Rumia, it's nice to see you. And Agava, I'm glad to see that eye of yours is ok."

Agava puffs her cheeks and says "what do YOU care?"

Ail's smile vanishes and tries to say something, but Agava speaks before he can say anything "don't you DARE feel sorry for me, you pathetic excuse for a HUMAN! I am AGAVA! I am evil and hatred made manifest in a body. This CURSED charm may have weakened me, but that does not mean I am any different! I will find a way to get this thing out of me, and I'll make SURE to give you plenty reasons to feel sorry!"

Agava storms away, hiding her desire to cry.

Ail continues to stare at her with concern, but just sighs and says "Rumia, could you-?"

"Already on it." quickly replies Rumia, then trails after Agava.

Renko notices Ail's concern and asks "what's the matter?"

Ail looks toward the stairs and says "I feel anger and confusion. Pain, and lot's of it."

Renko looks at Maribel and whispers "Mary, do you know what he's talking about?"

Maribel shrugs and says "no clue, but please call me Maribel already, Renko."

Renko hides her face under her hat and says "you know I can't pronounce it right."

-

A day later, at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Sakuya is getting more worried about Meiling's condition.

She refuses to admit it, but something is wrong with her, and Sakuya intends to find out.

She heads outside and walks directly to Meiling's post in front of the gate.

Meiling's eyes are dark all around and look empty, although she is barely able to keep them open.

Her face is pale, her skin looks as dry as sand and clings on to her bones.

Sakuya gasps at the sight of Meiling, looking like an undead corpse guarding the gate.

"Meiling!?" exclaims Sakuya.

"Is... Meiling, you look terrible!"

Meiling suddenly opens her eyes as much as she could and tries to smile at Sakuya as she weakly says "S-Sakuya. No... it's ok. I'm fine. Really."

Sakuya grabs Meiling's skinny arm and tries to pull, but Meiling resists.

"Sakuya~... sto~p. Why are you doing that?" sluggishly asks Meiling.

Sakuya gets angry and shouts "Meiling, you are sick. You HAVE to get inside now!"

Again, Meiling replies to her "I'm not. I'm just fine as ever... Really."

Sakuya shouts back "don't lie to me! You haven't been eating at all lately, and you're always locked up in you room! You're not even sleeping well, and don't think I haven't noticed. Meiling, just come back inside with me and we'll get that doctor to take a look at you!"

Meiling struggles, sluggishly saying "no~! S-Sakuya, I am fine. Please let me... urk!"

As they struggle, Meiling suddenly pulls her hand back with such force, she sends Sakuya flying toward a tree, then grabs hold of her stomach and vomits another large pool of blood.

She starts to cry as Sakuya walks closer, shocked at the sight of Meiling.

She gets nervous as she asks "M-Meiling... wh- what's going on with you?"

Meiling cries and sobs "p-please, miss Sakuya. D-don't fire me... I swear I'll get better soon *sob*."

Sakuya gets angry and shouts "why didn't you tell us about this earlier!!?"

Meiling cries some more and tries to stand up, but only manages to fall back to her knees.

Sakuya sighs then kneels down beside Meiling, lightly pats the back of her head and says "come inside. We'll go get you the doctor, and no arguing."

Sakuya wraps Meiling's arm around her neck, pulls her up, and takes her back inside.

As the door to the mansion closes behind them, Meiling weakly asks "who-who's going to-to, guard the--gate?"

Sakuya just sighs and can be heard calling the fairy maids.

-

At the tengu's mountain, Kyo continues his training with Momiji.

"You're swinging that blade too wildly. FOCUS!" shouts Momiji, as Kyo swings his sword in the air.

Momiji watches for a moment, then says "don't forget you have a shield. A defensive item, yes, but it can also become a weapon in the hands of a true warrior."

Kyo elegantly swings his sword, twirls around, turning his shield sideways, making it look as though it was cutting the very air around him with it.

His energy sword now has a more sword-like shape, and looks as solid as a real blade, and his shield can now cover his entire torso, and upon closer inspection, it looks as though the shield has a maple leaf design on it.

He swings left, right, spin, defend, and thrust.

He's getting tired, but he continues to train, regardless.

Momiji continues to watch, then suddenly shouts "that's enough! Time for rest!"

-

After flying down the mountain, Momiji and Kyo sit by the river, drinking some tea.

Momiji takes a sip, smiles and says "I am quite impressed. Not only have you changed, from an arrogant fool, to a humble, yet skillful swordsman, but your skill and your focus have improved so much in just a few months as well. Again, I am impressed."

Kyo smiles and says "well, I have a good master."

Momiji giggles and says "HAD a master."

Kyo looks at Momiji very surprised, then she continues saying "I have taught you all I can. Now it's all up to you to improve your own skills. Just don't forget what you have learned these past months, and you'll do just fine."

Kyo smiles while looking at the water as it drags a few large chunks of ice, along with smaller pieces down it's path.

He turns to Momiji and says "then I want to thank you for helping me like you did. But what if I decide to attack you now?"

Momiji casually responds "by now I know all you moves and techniques. If you want to challenge me again, you'll have to train on your own for a while."

Kyo smirks and chuckles, then asks her "any word on Aya and Luna?"

Momiji lightly shakes her head, then says "nothing. *sigh* I do miss Aya a lot."

From behind them, Aya says "aww, I've missed you too, Momiji!"

Luna, sounding truly happy says "I see you really were worried about me."

Momiji's ears perk up and her tail wags from side to side uncontrollably as she and Kyo turn around.

"Miss AYA~! You're back!" shouts Momiji excitedly as she runs to Aya and gives her a hug.

Kyo smiles and looks at Luna for a moment.

The white glove in her right hand looks as though it's shining, and she changed her brown slip-ons for tengu slippers.

Kyo blushes when he looks into her silver eyes.

The hatred and pain that once dominated her eyes has been replaced by kindness and love.

Kyo continues to stare at her, making her blush.

"What is it?" she asks.

Kyo shakes his head, rushes to her, then gives her a big hug saying "I was so worried about you, you fool!"

He pushes her back, while still holding her waist and asks "what did you do? What did they do to you?"

Luna smiles and says "it's ok. They only helped me recover myself... but."

Aya whistles and a pair of crows come to her with Luna's gun-blades on their claws.

Aya smiles as she hands the blades over and says "but now the both of you can work together, and help each other improve even more. Luna, you need to settle things with Sakuya, and you, Kyo, now that you have learned some humility, you can really work on those powers of yours."

Momiji adds "and improve those skills as well."

-

Aya, Momiji, Kyo and Luna now stand at the base of the waterfall, facing each other with a smile.

Aya smirks and says "and now you two are on your own, and I hope you only walk forward from now on. And remember that even though you are on your own, you still have each other."

Luna an Kyo chuckle and blush, then Kyo says "Momiji, Aya... I'm sorry about before. Thank you for all you have done for us."

Luna smiles and nods, then says "I couldn't have said it better myself."

Momiji giggles and then says "like I said to Kyo earlier, don't forget what you have learned here and you'll do just fine."

Kyo and Luna bow, then Kyo offers his arms to Luna, but she says "wait, I want to try flying for myself."

Kyo surprised asks "y-you can fly!?"

Luna giggles and says "catch me if you can!" then lifts off to the air at great speeds.

Kyo watches awestruck for a moment, then smiles, bows to Aya and Momiji one last time, then as he flies up, he shouts "HEY, wait for me!"

He can fly fast, but not as fast as Luna.

She giggles and flies around him, sticking her tongue out and flying away just as Kyo tries to grab her.

Momiji and Aya watch them as they head to the village, then Momiji says "it all happened just as miss Reimu and mister Ail predicted."

Aya smirks as she lightly shakes her head and says "nah. I think it turned out better than that."

-

Having caught up with Luna, Kyo smiles and says "wait, we're not going to the shrine now. I got a little surprise for you."

Luna looks at him curiously, then lets him lead.

They land at the human village, next to one of the villages exits, beside a large two-story house with a light-blue roof.

Kyo smiles and says "welcome to your new home."

Luna gasps and smiles as Kyo presents to her the new house.

She hugs him, unable to say anything due to sheer excitement.

Kyo blushes as she hugs him, but immediately recovers himself and says "let's go inside."

Luna suddenly exclaims "WAIT!"

She looks into Kyo's eyes and asks "can we go look for Medicine first?"

At first, Kyo was confused at her request, but after looking into her eyes he realized she really wanted to see Medicine, so he smiles tenderly and nods.

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu and Ail are having a small conversation after he tells her about the events in the Netherworld.

"...but she's ok, right? Both of them?" asks Reimu as she sits on the shrine's porch, while Ail stands in front of her.

Ail nods and says "Youmu recovered in just two days, and Yuyuko hasn't gone berserk again."

Reimu stares at him seriously, then says "that aside, I have been getting very a bad feeling lately. Tell me, has anything happened to Budou lately?"

Ail scratches his head, looking a little sad and says "not really. She has become a little more confident, and she's been going out on her own a lot more. She's even visiting the Moriya Shrine on a regular basis."

Reimu glares at Ail and asks "anything else?"

Before Ail answers, his bracelet screeches, making Ail and Reimu cover their ears.

The crystal turns purple, then an image of Meiling lying on her bed comes into view.

Reimu and Ail look at each other, and without saying a single word, both head to the skies and fly straight to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

-

At the mansion, inside Meiling's room, Sakuya and Remilia watch with worry as Eirin and Patchouli try over and over again to save Meiling.

Eirin injects a green liquid on Meiling's arm, then Patchouli reads from an orange book "free this body from the bonds of darkness~"

Meiling's body shines white for some time, but then the spell fades away, and Meiling coughs out the medicine once more.

She hyperventilates as she repeats "don't... fire me... Help... help me."

Patchouli, sounding a little irritated says "this possession has become too strong. We need an exorcist!"

Remilia asks "someone like Reimu?"

Patchouli nods and says "Remi, that's a great idea!"

Eirin sighs and says "then I can't help anymore. At least some of the supplements I gave her should keep her alive a little longer."

Sakuya growls, then punches hard against the wall as she says "the FOOL!"

She rubs her fist and says "if she only said anything sooner."

Patchouli calmly says "it is probable we could have done something, but perhaps not."

All look at Patchouli with interest as she says "this possession is really strong now, yes, but I highly doubt would would have been able to do anything before. I was hiding deep inside her heart, so if we tried anything, we could have easily killed her. At least now we can safely exorcise this without threatening her life."

Remilia smirks and says "then I guess I'll go get Reimu now."

The door opens up on it's own, revealing Koakuma,and two guests.

Remilia angrily says "Koa! How dare you bring guests here without my permission!"

Koakuma bows and says "my apologies, my lady, but they said they could help."

When the two guests come closer, they were non-other than Reimu and Ail.

Reimu smiles and says "Hakurei Reimu at your service. You may donate at the shrine after I'm done here."

All in the room were awestruck.

Reimu gets close to Meiling and pulls out various charms.

Remilia angrily asks "how did you know? were you spying on us!?"

Ail calmly says "I'll tell you later. Let's help Meiling out before that, though."

-

After hours of attempts, Reimu gives up and says "this is beyond my own skills. We need another maiden. One with a little more knowledge on exorcising."

Remilia angrily asks "what do you mean by that!? Don't you know how to exorcise things?"

Reimu sighs and says "it's not that simple. My teachings as a shrine maiden were more on being offensive than defensive."

Sakuya sighs as she opens the door and heads outside, followed by Remilia, Reimu and Eirin.

As they head out, Reimu says "there are defensive and offensive types of maidens. I am offensive, so my knowledge in exorcising is basic. I'm better at expelling things the hard way anyway."

Their voices fade in the distance, and Remilia can be heard saying "does that explain why you are so moody all the time? *smack* Ow!"

Inside the room, Patchouli approaches Ail and says "I haven't seen you since winter. Is everything alright?"

Ail smiles and says "had a very busy winter."

Patchouli looks away, not believing what he said, then Ail says "Patchy, there is something else. Something I wish to ask you about."

Patchouli turns her head as Ail asks "that night, when me and Remilia had that fight over my freedom last autumn... did she let me win?"

Patchouli smiles and says "you better ask her if you want to know."

Patchouli closes the door behind her, then Ail and Koakuma get closer to Meiling.

Koakuma looks at her and says "poor Meiling. Must be terrible for her."

Ail grabs Meiling's hand and says "yeah. If I had only come visit sooner, though."

Suddenly, Meiling grasps Ail's hand with incredible force, making him kneel on to the floor in pain.

Koakuma gasps as Meiling immediately attacks Ail with a barrage of punches and kicks, finishing her combination by sending him flying through the wall next to the door with one last kick.

He falls unconscious, coughing out blood on the floor, then Meiling slowly walks out of her room, her pupils shining violet as she stares around.

She jumps out a window, then flies away.

Koakuma gets closer to Ail, now that Meiling was gone.

She looks at the blood and says "oh, no. This isn't good. I better call for help."

From the left side of the corridor, Flandre shouts "BIG BROTHER~!"

In a matter of one minute, everyone returned, finding Ail gravely injured on the floor, Flandre looking nervously at him, and Koakuma hovering nervously around them.

"What happened here!? Where's Meiling!?" shouts Reimu.

-

At the human village, Kyo, Luna and Medicine explore the new house.

Luna is impressed, since the inside is already fully furnished, and most of it to her liking.

Medicine explores the second floor, saying "wow, how can a house have another house on top of it!?"

Kyo asks Luna "so, what do you think?"

Luna is still awestruck, but manages to say excitedly "everything... is just wonderful!"

Kyo smiles and says "so glad you approve."

Suddenly Medicine shouts from the second floor "hey, something's going on around the school!"

Kyo immediately ask "what do you mean!?"

An explosion rattles the floor, and after helping Luna keep her balance, Kyo rushes out the door with Luna by his side.

They fly over a few houses and land at the small village plaza, near the school.

Kyo looks with amazement and shock, then says "M...Meiling?"

Luna gets a little annoyed and asks "Meiling? Who's that?"

Kyo says "she's the gate guard of the vampire's mansion! But what is she doing? She's usually very friendly and kind too!"

They watch in horror as Keine gets in front of Meiling and asks "you! What are you doing here?"

Without any hesitation, Meiling moves her arms in an arc, then joins them together as she sends a powerful wave of qi energy that sends Keine flying backwards, straight at one of the houses, breaking the wall as she impacted.

Kyo gasps, then turns to Luna and says "Luna, let me handle this, please."

Luna looks at him a little angry at first, but she sighs and calms down, then says "ok. Just be careful."

-

Meiling starts walking slowly toward the school, swaying as she did.

Kyo jumps in front of her and immediately asks "Meiling, what's the matter!?"

Meiling lifelessly stares at Kyo, whispering "help...me~... Don't... fire me~! Help me~..."

Kyo gasps when he notices her pupil shining violet and says "Meiling... Come on! Snap out of it! Look, it's me, Kyo!"

Meiling stances, ready for battle, and lunges her fist straight at Kyo's torso.

He twirls out of the way and stances, ready to fight.

Meiling unleashes her qi all around her limbs, so Kyo covers his own with his energy and says "Meiling, I don't want to fight you. Snap out of it, please!"

She whispers "I... ca~nt..." then sends a kick straight at Kyo.

He blocks it with his arm, crouches, and kicks her legs, but as she falls, she flips and lands back up, runs toward Kyo, and launches a blast of energy after joining her wrists together and opening her hands with her fingers clenched against the palm of her hands, while keeping her palms open straight.

Kyo waits for the energy to reach him, then punches it, sending it upward, then back-flips out of the way just as Meiling jumps and tries to swoop down with her foot, cracking the ground after landing.

Kyo stares at her as she sluggishly straightens her body, then faces him.

She suddenly rushes at him, and tries to combine various punches and kicks, but Kyo matches them perfectly, then twirls behind her, and pushes her forward, causing her to lose her balance and fall on her face.

She struggles to get up, and manages to do so. Kyo was about to continue the fight, but all she did was continue her way to the school.

Kyo lowers his guard, realizing she only wanted to go to the school, then shouts at Keine "WAIT, STOP!" just as she rushed toward Meiling.

Keine walks to Kyo and shouts "she's going to destroy everything!"

Kyo says "trust me... she won't!"

Just then, Reimu, Sakuya, Eirin and Ail fly straight to town, spotting Kyo and landing next to him.

Kyo looks at Ail and shouts "What the HELL happened to you!?"

Ail tries to smile while holding his torso with his left arm as he says "nothing.... a good night's rest wont *gasp* cure."

Reimu asks "what happened here? Aren't we supposed to stop her?"

Kyo says "no. If we do, she's going to destroy everything here, or die. Her body is too damaged, and even the slightest impact could damage her internal organs. Can someone tell me how that happened?"

Luna walks next to Kyo, and bows to all, then looks at Sakuya and says "Sakuya..."

Sakuya bows and says "we can talk later."

-

As Reimu and Sakuya explain about Meiling to Luna and Kyo, Agava watches from close by, then quietly follows Meiling.

Arriving at the school, Meiling breaks the doors open with ease and heads inside.

She walks to the center of the room and opens her eyes, which started to glow purple now.

The desks all fly away against the walls, then suddenly, from the ceiling, a purple colored book with black pages materializes and slowly floats down, landing on the ground.

Agava watches as the book slowly drops down, then waits to see if it's safe to go in.

Meiling suddenly kneels down on the ground, and stays staring at the book.

Agava hesitates for a moment, but when she hears the others were coming her way, she rushes in, grabs the book and jumps out an open window, using the houses as cover as she runs toward the Forest of Magic.

When the others enter, they are met by a dieing Meiling.

Her eyes still glowing purple slowly close as she continues to whisper "help me, don't fire me."

Each time she repeated this, her voice faded more.

Sakuya panics and shouts "someone do something, please! Reimu, save her!"

Reimu looks away and says "it's too late."

Ail, still holding his torso in pain, walks toward Meiling and gets his right hand as close as he could to her, then suddenly, the image of Pandemonium started to shine, and a light-blue aura surrounds Meiling.

Ail takes a few breaths and says "this... should keep her *gasp*... alive."

From outside the school, Sanae shouts "can someone tell me what's going on here!?"

Reimu smiles and says "we found the exorcist."

Sanae cautiously enters and looks around, spotting Ail beside Meiling.

She gasps when she looks at them and asks "what happened? Both of you are...?"

From behind her, Budou screams "PAPA AIL!!! You're hurt again!"

She rushes to Ail, but doesn't jump on him and says "oh, papa, you are so lucky the sparkles are curing you."

Reimu says "Sanae! We need your help. See, Meiling's-"

Budou screams loud, then runs toward Sanae, hiding her face in Sanae's belly and saying "save her. She's got the black in her heart! Save her mama Sanny!"

Sanae looks confused, then Reimu says "exactly. Meiling's been possessed, but my skills are no good. The possession is too strong."

Keine and Sakuya try to take Budou away from Sanae,but she doesn't want to let go, so Keine kneels down and says "little one, you need to let her go. So she can save that girl over there."

Budou looks at Keine and asks "are... are you a mama too?"

Keine blushes, but giggles and says "oh my, no."

Reimu chuckles and says "well, you are a teacher, so... that's like being a mother, don't you think?"

Keine smiles and says "maybe a certain maiden needs a lesson?"

Sakuya angrily shouts "could you stop that? Please, miss Sanae, just help her already!"

-

Keine, Kyo and Luna leave the school and help Eirin tend to some wounded villagers, and help rebuild the few walls taken down by Meiling's assault.

Inside the school, Reimu holds on to Budou as Sanae grabs three charms from one of her sleeves.

She asks "Budou, what do you see in her, and where?"

Budou cries as she looks at Meiling and says "the poor nice lady. She has a very big black blob on her chest, and it's spreading to her arms and her head."

Sanae smiles at her and says "thank you for being so brave, little Budou. This will make it easier for me."

Ail smiles at Budou, then turns to watch Sanae perform the exorcism from one of the desks, still holding on to his ribs.

Sanae places one charm on Meiling's forehead, one on her right shoulder, and the other on the left.

She rummages around her clothes, but can't seem to find what she is looking for.

She spots Ail and exclaims a triumphant "ah-ha~!" then goes to him, pulls his robe aside, opens one of the pockets in his pants, then pulls out five pink charms.

Ail watches with surprise and says "well, that was sneaky of you."

Sanae giggles, then heads back to Meiling, placing the charms on the floor around Meiling.

She pulls out her gohei and chants in a strange dialect.

The charms on Meiling begin to glow, and slowly move toward her chest.

Very suddenly, the three charms started spinning around Meiling's chest, then Budou desperately shouts "the black wants to take her life!"

Sanae opens her eyes and stops the chant.

She takes one of the charms from the ground and places it directly onto Meiling's chest, then the other three charms stop spinning, grab hold of the dark energy, and safely pull it outside Meiling.

Once out, Sanae touches the dark energy with her gohei, causing a powerful reaction between light and darkness, and very suddenly, the energies fly out the window, and heads straight to the sun, vanishing from sight and though.

Sakuya gasps as Meiling body falls on the floor, then rushes to her.

Sanae exhales and smiles, then asks "Budou, how is she now?"

Budou smiles and says "mama Sanny you're amazing! There is no more dark inside of her! It's like a miracle! But she does need to eat."

Sakuya giggles and says "don't worry, I will make sure she eats plenty."

Reimu takes a deep breath of relief and says "that was a close call. Thank you for saving her, Sanae."

-

Ail opens up a gap to Meiling's room in the Scarlet Devil mansion, and Sakuya, taking a good hold of the weakened Meiling, enters and immediately is greeted by Koakuma and Remilia.

Kyo asks "Ail, buddy, are you sure you're going to be ok like that?"

Ail nods and says "don't worry. Eirin already injected me with some medicine. I'll be just fine by tomorrow morning."

Ail turns to Sanae, then smiles and says "Hey, Sanae, could you take care of Budou for today?"

Sanae smiles back and nods saying "of course. You just get better, alright?"

Ail opens up another gap, this time to the Moriya shrine.

Before going with Sanae, Budou signals Ail to get closer. He manages to kneel down, and after asking "what is it, Budou?" Budou kisses his cheek and says "now papa will get better even sooner."

Ail smiles, then watches as she and Sanae enter the gap the the shrine.

Kyo and Luna wave as they go back to their house, then Ail asks Reimu "do you want me to get you home through a gap?"

Reimu shakes her head lightly and says "no thanks. I have something to do here before I go."

Ail shrugs, but after doing so, sharp pain from his ribs strikes him hard, making him grunt.

He sighs, open a gap back to his room, then enters it, waving at Reimu.

-

After everyone had left, Reimu goes to Keine's school.

Inside, Keine places the last desk back in it's place and says "you were right, Reimu."

She turns around and faces Reimu and continues saying "that little youkai is quite amazing. So young and yet she can clearly see another's life energy with ease."

Reimu then asks "don't you think she's dangerous?"

Keine ponders for a moment, then says "no, I don't think so. She's innocent, kind, sweet, and amazingly cute and powerful, but I don't think she's a danger at all."

Reimu takes a deep breath and says "then I hope you are right. I understand those visions now, but it's not something I really want to do."

Keine saddens a bit and asks "what if these visions you're having are fake?"

Reimu looks seriously at Keine and says "if they are, I'll be glad, but..."

Keine walks to Reimu and says "you're going to have to talk about this to him. Maybe he can help you."

Reimu looks at the afternoon sky and replies "maybe... but love has a way to blind others to the truth."

Keine keeps silent after Reimu's comment, staring at the shrine maiden as she look at the sky, lost in her own thoughts.

-

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN

Ail, Kyo, Luna and Budou were created by Willie G.R.

Assistance with this chapter by snapshot2010

SEP 9 2009 (HAPPY ⑨ DAY)

written by

Willie G.R.


	18. Chapter 17

**A Misfired Spell part 1:**

* * *

The first event is finally over. Flandre's possession had passed over to Meiling, and after it was done with her, it tried to take her life. Thanks to Sanae, with a little help from Budou, Meiling was spared.

However, Agava took the book that appeared before Meiling, and ran away with it to the Forest of Magic.

Ail and Reimu remain alert, now that the crystal knight had revealed himself, yet peace seemed to be returning to Gensokyo.

Being such a chaotic place, peace in Gensokyo only means more trouble is on it's way.

-

Reaching one of the most secluded and dark places in the Forest of Magic after hiding for a day, where the trees and bushes are thick, covered by very little snow, where in the grass hide more than just youkai, Agava silently tries to read the book she just acquired.

In it's black pages, symbols and strange letters painted in white, all unknown to her, prevented her from getting the information she needs.

"Bah, what an useless book!" exclaims Agava, as she tosses it against a tree.

From the book, a stern, yet kind male voice shouts "OW! Hey, that's no way to treat you books, young lady!"

Agava shrieks and jumps when the book speaks.

The book floats back to her and says "talk about a rude awakening! So? What is it you need?"

Agava silently stares at the book. The book, sounding impatient says "look, you MUST need something. You summoned me, right? So what is it you need?"

Agava hesitates for a moment, then asks "you'd help someone evil, like me?"

The book, sounding very stuffy, replies "well of course. I'm a book! Not a human, or a demon. I help anyone that seeks information. Besides, if you're evil, then I'm a clown."

Agava angrily shouts "I AM EVIL! It's just... I have this STUPID charm embedded in my core, and I need to get it off."

The book casually says "ah, yeah. A powerful charm. Well, if you want to get rid of it, ask the caster to take it off. Simple, no?"

Agava sounds disappointed and says "some book you are... If it were that simple, I would have done it some TIME ago."

The book paces left to right and back, then says "yeah... you're right. Well, you seem to be in good terms with the guardian. Why not ask them?"

Agava looks confused for a moment, then asks "guardian? What do you mean by that?"

The book sighs and says "the charm you have in there is very complex, and the caster needs to select a guardian in order to keep that spell in balance, and so, either one of them has the power to remove that charm inside of you... although... To be honest I've never seen such a-"

From behind Agava, the crystal knight strikes her behind her neck, knocking her out cold, then immediately grabs the book.

The book shouts "HEY~ I was almost done here. She needs to tell me I'm done, so I can go back to sleep."

I a deep, menacing voice, the knight says "you are not done. You still need to help me~!"

The book sighs and says "this is why I HATE being awake."

-

For hours, Agava lies on the ground. The plants come to life and slowly entangle some vines around her limbs. The ground underneath her begins to swallow her up, but thankfully, Ail and Budou arrive just in time.

Ail steps on the vines trying to break off her arms, making them let her go, while Budou cuts the ones on her legs with her claws.

"Budou, let's go!" shouts Ail as soon as Agava was free.

The forest around them comes to life and attacks them directly.

Ail manages to unleash a massive barrier that protects them from the plants, then grabs Budou in one hand, and Agava in the other, then flies away as fast as he can.

Once safely outside, Ail places Agava on the ground.

Budou says "papa, she's waking up."

When Agava wakes up, the first thing she sees is Ail, looking directly at her.

She gasps and flips back up and shouts "YOU! W-What do you want!?"

Budou smiles and says "papa and I saved you!"

Agava places her finger on her cheek and faintly says "save... me?"

She recalls being struck on the back of the head by something solid, then asks "why did you attack me in the first place? I wasn't doing anything, you idiot!"

Ail looks at her confused and says "but I didn't attack you. We found you on the ground in the forest. The plants were trying to eat you, but..."

Agava blushes as she thinks "they saved me? Why in the hell would they do that!?"

Suddenly she gasps and shouts "y-you didn't have to save me! I had everything under control, you stupid human!"

Budou frowns and shouts "that's no way to say 'thanks' you meanie!"

Agava shouts "and who says I want to thank you!? I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself! I didn't NEED any help!"

Ail just stares at her while patting Budou.

Agava blushes again then shouts "y-you... You are LUCKY I'm in a good mood, or I'd have to TEACH you two a lesson... Next time you won't be so lucky!"

Agava turns around then runs away.

Ail looks on with surprise and says "that was strange."

Budou nods, then wraps her arms around Ail's neck, then says "let's go home, papa."

Ail accommodates his arm so she can sit on it while he carries her and says "yeah... let's.

-

At Ail's house, right after Ail opens the door, an eggplant colored umbrella pops from the ceiling, shouting "I'm gonna eat you~!"

Ail yelps and falls on the ground, throwing Budou up in the air.

She lands softly on Ail's belly and giggles, then notices the umbrella running away through the trees and bushes.

Budou giggles again when she sees Ail's terrorized face, then says "papa Ail looks funny~!"

Ail nervously chuckles, then gets back up. He clears his throat and says "let's, uhh... just go in."

Before entering the house from behind a woman shouts "WAI~T!"

Ail turns around an meets a woman with long brown hair that fades to dark-purple at the top and hazel eyes, wearing a black and white dress with black fabric strips that go across in the middle, and white fabric strips that go across the long-sleeved arms, and a black cape that is red inside.

Ail stares curiously and says "well... hello miss."

The woman stares back without saying a word, and just smiles.

Budou smiles and gasps as she says "it's the very kind lady! Papa, look, look!"

Question marks start popping around Ail as he asks "very... kind?"

The woman giggles and says "little youkai, I was so worried about you! Oh, I'm so glad you found such a good papa!"

Ail quietly asks "err... did I miss something?"

Budou shouts "oh yes! He's been taking care of me, and my mama Sanny too."

The woman smiles again and says "yeah, I know. I've been watching."

Finally, Ail raises his voice a little and asks "Budou, you know who this is?"

The woman covers her mouth as she gasps.

She bows then says "I'm so sorry" then straightens up and says "my name is Byakuren Hijiri. Oh, I just have to thank you so much!"

Ail sweats as he smiles, still confused to the whole matter, then asks "th-thank me? For what?"

Byakuren stares at him and says "well, mister Ail, I've been watching you since you an miss Maribel went to Makai, and I must say I am so impressed by you two!"

Ail thinks for a moment, then asks "so you... are from Makai?"

Byakuren giggles and says "no, I live in a temple close to the village. You should come visit us sometime. And bring your friend, Maribel too. We welcome anyone, specially those that treats youkai as equals!"

Ail looks at her for a moment and says "are you ok? You seems a little agitated."

Byakuren takes a deep breath and says "I-I'm sorry, it's just, I've never met a human that treats youkai, fairies, demons and so kindly, as if they were humans too. Excitement got the best of me."

Ail looks at her surprised, then she immediately says "I'm sorry, but I have been watching you for some time now. The demons at Makai, the little youkai with you..."

Budou immediately says "he named me Budou, so now I am Budou!"

Byakuren pats her on the head and says "ah, yes I forgot about that. Like I was saying... little Budou and even that shadow girl, Agava. You treat them all as equals... just like Reimu... only a little more kindly."

Ail sighs and smiles as he says "well... the way I see it, we are all similar, even with our minor differences."

Byakuren smiles again and calmly says "I better get going now. Please, come visit my temple soon, alright. I wish talk to you and miss Maribel, and get to know you both."

Ail waves as Byakuren flies away, then Budou says "she's really nice, but a li~ttle too excitable."

Ail laughs and says "let's go inside. I got some fresh grapes ready for you."

Budou jumps up and down, flapping her wings rapidly and shouting "YAY~! Yummy grapes!"

-

One week later spring arrives to Gensokyo.

Ail is still sleeping while Lily White, who enters his house quite casually, watches him sleep.

The blond fairy watches curiously as Ail quietly snores.

Slowly, Ail opens his eyes and sees Lily.

For a moment, he thinks he is still sleeping, but she suddenly shoots a barrage of danmaku and shouts "IT'S SPRI~NG!"

Ail manages to place a barrier all around, except on himself.

He coughs up a little black cloud, then suddenly gasps and very excitedly shouts "LILY~~!!!"

He grabs the fairy by the waist and starts to spin around with her, making her laugh as she keeps expelling danmaku.

He gives her a big hug and exclaims "Lily, I missed you!"

Lily smiles and hugs his neck, then looks back as Budou opens the door to Ail's room, sleepily asking "papa? What's with all the noise?"

After serving tea, cookies and some scrambled eggs and fruits, Ail sits on the table to eat while Budou and Lily drink their tea and eat some cookies.

"So she's the fairy of spring?" asks Budou.

Lily smiles and nods, then says "spring is beautiful!"

Budou giggles and says "yeah! And spring is also my favorite season too!"

Lily continues to smile when she asks "why?"

Budou answers "because the flowers look really beautiful!"

Lily smiles and again and says "yeah~! Spri~ng!"

She shoots some more danmaku, however Ail calmly places barriers all around, protecting his house, Budou and himself.

After breakfast, Ail, Budou and Lily go outside.

Lily waves at them as she flies away, shouting "it's spring!" then Budou says "I'm going to visit mama. I'll see you later papa~!"

Ail replies "alright. You be careful, you hear!"

Budou turns around as she flies away and blows a smooch back at him saying "I will papa~!"

After she is gone, Ail says to himself "I guess I'll go visit Patchy now."

-

Opening a gap next to the gate at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Ail comes out and immediately says "good morning, Meiling. You're looking a whole lot better today."

Meiling smiles, her aquamarine eyes full of life, her skin color back to normal, and she looks a lot happier than she did before.

She smiles at Ail and says "morning! Yes, thanks to all of you and Sakuya I am feeling better than ever!"

Ail smiles and says "I'm here to see Patchy. Is she in?"

Meiling nods and says "yeah, she's at the library right now! Oh, and Ail... sorry for breaking your-"

"No need for that. That wasn't you, so there's not need for you to apologize to me." quickly says Ail.

Meiling smiles and says "I still want to, but... thanks... for understanding."

Suddenly, her smile vanishes.

Ail notices her and asks "is Flandre still locked up?"

Meiling sadly replies "I told her I'm not mad, but she just won't come out."

Ail sighs and says "we gotta let her sort this out, but... it wouldn't hurt if someone would help her a little."

Meiling smiles and says "I'll go talk to her when I get a chance."

Ail smiles back then says "I better go in now. I have to ask Patchy something important."

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu, Marisa, Renko, Mima and Maribel all sit by the shrine's porch, talking and enjoying some tea, when very suddenly, the knight in crystal armor comes and blasts them away.

He laughs and says "you were right, little book. They WERE easy pickings. Hahaha~"

From the dust, Marisa, Mima and Reimu fly up and meet the knight head on.

Mima summons her staff and shoots a barrage of red lasers, while Marisa fires various red blade-like bullets and Reimu tossed various charms and needles.

The knight braces for impact, and after receiving the assault head-on, he's sent to back to the ground the hard way.

Maribel waits for him there and just as he falls, she barrages him with so many pink hearts, it looked like pink butterflies were clinging on the the crystal armor.

After screams of pain from the knight, Reimu, Mima and Marisa come down, however, Marisa stays hovering just above the others.

When the smoke clears, the knight had run away.

Reimu and the others look at each other, then Reimu says "let's finish him off now."

All cheer "YEAH~!" then all of them, even Renko chase after him.

-

At Patchouli's library, Ail searches her and Koakuma, and immediately notices Koakuma in a weird get-up.

She wears a pair of coconuts to cover her breasts, and a short dried-grass skirt over panties made of leaves.

He looks at Koakuma for a second, then at Patchouli, then asks "what are you two doing today?"

Patchouli casually replies "ah, Ail, welcome. I'm making a few golems to help me and Koakuma keep the library in order, and keep certain 'rats' away from my books."

She presents two large curtains, both twice her own size and says "they are almost finished. We just need pure essence of lust to keep them under control."

She looks at Koakuma and asks "ready Koakuma?"

Koakuma blushes and cries "why do I have to do this? It's so embarrassing!"

Ail immediately realizes what she means, so he turns around and says "ooh, look at this... a book" then gets close to a near-by shelf, and sticks his face in it.

Patchouli smiles at Ail then turns back to Koakuma and flips her thumb up.

Koakuma sighs and walks to a circle on the ground that has strange symbols written around the edges.

Koakuma expands her arms and wings, then begins to twirl and dance.

Patchouli shouts "shake those hips a little more, Koa!"

Koakuma blushes, but starts swaying her hips from side to side in a rhythmic fashion.

Suddenly she screams and starts to spin uncontrollably.

Patchouli shouts "HIT THE FLOOR~!"

Ail turns around confused and asks "what did you say?"

Koakuma starts to shine pure white, then spins out of control straight at Ail.

Just before she crashes on to Ail, he grabs her shoulders, helping her stop, however, the energy the surrounded her gets inside him.

When the commotion is over, Patchouli gets up and sees Ail holding Koakuma, then yelps and shouts "Ail, let go of Koakuma. You can do it!"

Ail asks "what are you ta-"

Suddenly Ail realizes... he can't let her go.

Koakuma cries and blushes, then whimpers "please let me go. It's so embarrassing."

Ail summons all his will-power and manages to let her go.

When he realizes it, he's sweating and breathing heavily. His face is red and very hot.

He looks to Patchouli and manages to ask "Patchy? What the hell just got into me?"

Patchouli says "please stay away from us. You got pure essence of lust inside of you... and if my calculations are correct, some other males inside Gensokyo are also affected by this."

Ail takes a deep breath and asks "for how long?"

Patchouli, from behind some bookshelves replies "24 hours. You will be uncontrollably attracted to any female presence now. So please, just go back home and stay there for the next 24 hours."

Ail nods and tries to open a gap, but immediately fails.

Patchouli notices by watching through the gaps between the books and says "I was afraid of this. It's too much lust. You won't be able to concentrate enough to open gaps... You'll have to take the long way... sorry about this."

Ail sighs, but doesn't reply and walks slowly to the door.

-

Ail reaches the front door, and is just inches away to get out, but at that very moment, Sakuya enters with some supplies.

Ail's heart starts beating fast, as the elegant maid enters the mansion carrying the supplies on one hand.

She spots Ail and elegantly asks "mister Ail, what a pleasant surprise. Are you here for a visit?"

Ail can't help but notice her legs barely covered by her short skirt, and her figure perfectly fitted for that maid's outfit.

He manages to control his thoughts and with a burning face and an uncontrollable desire to jump on her, he says "y-yeah... I was... just about to leave now."

Sakuya looks at him concerned and asks "mister Anilan, are you ok?"

Ail starts to sweat as he passes by her, trying to keep his distance, then says "ye-yeah, I'm just fine... err, I got a really important matter to attend to now, so... I'll... yeah"

Suddenly Ail runs outside and immediately flies away.

Sakuya watches curiously and says to herself "if he would have asked nicely, I would have let him use the bathroom here. Oh well, perhaps he's one of those type that only uses his own."

-

At the village, Kyo is tossed outside the house by Luna, who angrily shouts "and if you ever try that again, I'll have you HAND mister!" then shuts the door.

Kyo rubs his head and says "geez, just because my hand slipped? And who cares if Medicine is watching anyway."

He gets up and spots Rinnosuke.

He quickly gets up and aggressively asks "who are you!?"

Rinnosuke glares at Kyo and says "I am Rinnosuke Morichika, and you..." Rinnosuke stances ready to fight "...are my opponent!"

Kyo smiles and says "bring it on, little man"

Both grapple each other by the shirt, then suddenly, they rip the shirts apart, both sporting an amazing set of muscles, although Kyo's were more defined.

Kyo shouts "WAIT!!!"

Rinnosuke glares at Kyo as Kyo says "instead of fighting... why don't we FLEX!?"

Rinnosuke's eyes glint, then he shouts "that's is a GREAT IDEA!"

Both start flexing their muscles, posing like body-builders and growling as they do.

Soon, they are accompanied by some of the young village males.

From inside Kyo's house, Luna and Medicine watch them through a window as they flex.

Medicine asks "what are those idiots doing?"

Luna replies "I haven't a clue... but Kyo does look hot flexing like that."

Medicine looks at Luna confused and thinks "water would cool him down." but prefers to keep her thoughts to herself.

-

At the Bamboo forest, Reimu and Mima chase the crystal knight on foot, while Marisa and Maribel fly just above him, shooting as many spells as they can.

Renko is a few feet away, setting up a trap. She hears them getting close and ties a thin string to a bamboo shoot.

The knight comes running, trying to escape the spell assault being brought down on to him and fails to see the string.

He trips it, and two long bamboo shoots fly toward him, knocking his helmet off.

Renko shivers and whimpers "oh crap... that is NOT good."

The knight's body continues to move on it's own and desperately searches for it's head.

When Reimu and the others arrive, they scream at the sight of the headless knight.

Reimu shouts "Renko! That was a little too much!"

Renko whimpers some more, but then the knight places his head back on.

This creeps everyone out even more, then Reimu says "wait... Girls... that armor... only HALF of the torso is occupied after all."

Maribel asks "how do you know?"

Reimu confidently replies "well, from what Ail told me, Youmu pierced through the upper torso, and now you took out the head, but nothing was there... Girls, let's break this armor apart!"

The knight starts to sweat when the 5 girls wickedly stare at him, 4 of them preparing a massive attack.

He runs away as fast as he can, and before the girls could follow, he shoots a massive energy blast that lifts up a thick cloud of smoke and manages to fly away while the girls are blinded, and coughing.

Reimu shouts "he's *cough* getting away!"

Mima replies "where!? I can't *cough* see him!"

Marisa shouts "I'll take *cough* care of this!"

Marisa gets on her broom again and flies around in a circle, helping the smoke clear out faster.

After the smoke clears, Reimu growls and stomps on the ground and shouts "DAMMIT! We lost him!"

Maribel is playing with some rabbits in a corner and says "don't worry miss Reimu. We'll find him again."

The other four girls sigh annoyed as Maribel giggles as she plays with the rabbits.

Maribel suddenly sneezes, then a pair of cat ears pop out.

Mima stares at her for a moment, then squeals and says SO CU~~~TE!"

-

Ail arrives at his home and sighs with relief as he says "yeah,I made it... now I'll just have wait until tomorrow and... wait... Oh no... BUDOU! I have to somehow ask Sanae to stay with her... ohh... how to do this?"

Ail paces around the living room, then suddenly he realizes, Yuyuko was sitting on his couch, watching him pace around.

She whimsically says "well why not open up a gap and just tell her?"

Ail shrieks and back away exclaiming "Yuyu-sama? Wh-What are you doing here?"

Yuyuko stares at him with confusion and wonder as he backs away, but does not say a word.

Ail notices her eyes and her face. She looks so young and beautiful, and that's when he notices her chest.

His face turns bright red and steam comes out of his ears.

He turns his face away and says "I-I-I... sorry... I don't mean to be rude, but this is no time for a visit. Hey wait, how did you get in?"

Yuyuko giggles as she smiles, making Ail look at her, making him blush even more.

She stands up and says "I see. Well I really like you too, but it's just a dream, sweet Ail."

She walks to the door then turns around and says "oh, try not to look up my skirt as I fly~, ok?"

She winks and blows a kiss, then flies away.

Using every inch of will-power in him, Ail manages not to turn his face to her, and just waited a little while.

He calms down, takes a deep breath and walks to the door thinking "alright... I can do this! I'll just go to the Moriya shrine and..."

Ail looks up to the sky, and hovering just above his roof is Yuyuko, who says to him in a playful tone "oh~, you naughty boy. I told you not to look up my skirt while I fly."

Ail's face turns hot and very red. He feels something warm coming out his nose, so he gently passes his hand around his nostrils and notices the blood.

He turns around and runs inside the house, but forgets he had closed the door, so he slams himself against it, and falls unconscious on the ground with his eyes spinning.

Yuyuko watches this scene and concernedly says "oh dear, I think it was too much for him." She smiles and giggles, then whimsically flies away.

-

At unknown parts inside Gensokyo, the crystal knight and the magic book have one final meeting.

The magic book hovers in front of the knight's face and asks "so did you manage it?"

The knight responds "yes... but I saw no magical effect or reaction."

In a snooty tone the book says "well of course not. If there was, the maiden would have noticed, you dummy. *Sigh* What about the other?"

The knight nods and says "all taken care of."

The book replies "well, good for you then. Now, a deal is a deal."

The knight asks "what if I don't want to? You sure are one handy book."

Red flames burst all around the book as he angrily shouts "IF YOU DARE BREAK THE DEAL I WILL PERSONALLY MAKE SURE TO TURN YOU INTO A DISTANT MEMORY!"

The knight stares un-fazed and replies "fine. I hereby declare, I have no more need of your infinite wisdom and therefore release you from my services."

The fire around the book vanishes along with is as it says "finally, I can rest. May all your accomplishments go well, blah blah... *yawn* I just wanna sleep now."

The book vanishes as the knight turns his back to it and flies away.

-

Later at noon, Ail, who had to bandage his nose, flies above the village while heading toward the Moriya Shrine and spots Kyo, fighting off Rinnosuke and various other village males away from his house.

He wonders what is going on, but decides there are more important matters to attend to.

Down in the village, Luna had made the mistake of coming outside the house wearing a long sleeping robe and nothing else, causing all the males around the area to have their noses bleed, and target her for perverted purposes.

Kyo stands on the front of his house and shouts "YOU TRY THAT AGAIN, AND YOU'RE DEAD MEAT, PAL!!!"

Rinnosuke is the only other male standing up.

He glares at Kyo and says "it's nothing against you, friend, but that woman's beauty has captivated me to no ends. I want her!"

Kyo readies himself for a fight as he says "she is MY woman. I will defend her to my last breath!"

Inside the house, Luna swoons and says "what a man!"

Medicine looks at her annoyed and thinks "really? And you were just calling him a disgusting pig about a minute ago."

Back outside, Rinnosuke charges at Kyo.

Kyo stands ready and thinks "he's coming at me in a blind rage. I can take him out with one swift attack without causing any real damage."

Just when Rinnosuke is in range to attack, Yukari pops from behind him in one of her gaps, grabs the back of his hair and says "Rinnosuke, what is the meaning of this?"

Kyo immediately lowers his guard and rushes to his door, trying to open it up, even though it is locked form inside.

Yukari continues to scold Rinnosuke "...and furthermore, what is with this stupid 'flexing' I've been hearing about? Get a hold of yourself. Show some youkai pride!"

She continues to scold him, not realizing he was staring at her with lusty eyes.

She continues to scold him when suddenly he tenderly says "Yukari~ I didn't noticed this before, but you're beauty is unsurpassed."

Yukari quickly backs away, looking both surprised and scared and asks "what!?" What the hell got into you?"

Rinnosuke's face turns red as he drools and continues to chase after Yukari.

She starts to fly away as fast as she can with Rinnosuke hot on her trail and shouting "come back, Yukari, you gorgeous female figure!"

Yukari shoots some danmaku at him, but is unable to shake him off and shouts "get away from me you pervert! This is NOT FUNNY!!! Rinnosuke, I'm warning you!"

-

At the Moriya Shrine, Ail hides behind at tree, hoping someone will come out soon.

He sighs as he drops down and sits on one of the roots and says to himself "I just hope I don't do something stupid now. Gah, this much lust is just maddening."

Suwako stands in front of him and asks "lust? Are you being a pervert?"

Ail screams loud into the air in surprise.

After managing to calm down, Ail stays behind the tree while he speaks to Kanako and Suwako.

Sanae stays inside the shrine, since just hearing her voice makes Ail want to chase after her, however, Sanae believes it' because he doesn't like her at all.

"...and so, I need you to take care of Budou for tonight while the spell wears off."

Kanako replies "it's ok, we can do that, but... did you REALLY pass out after watching that ghost woman's-?"

Suwako strikes Kanako on the back of the head and shouts "we have CHILDREN present you loon!"

Budou walks toward Suwako and Kanako, then asks "is papa ok?"

Ail replies "yes Budou. I'll be ok, but you should stay with Sanae and the goddesses for tonight."

Budou smiles and says "ok papa... but... why are you hiding behind the tree?"

Ail laughs and says "when you get older, I promise to tell you. Well, I better get going. In this state, even behind this tree, I'm dangerous."

Suwako says "you do what you must."

Kanako adds "just make sure to lock that door."

Ail sighs, then gets up from the ground under the tree and says "I will. Budou, be good. I'll come pick you up when everything is back to normal."

Budou replies "ok papa. You just get better."

Ail smiles then lifts off, speedily returning home. Sanae sits by the shrine's stairs, looking on as Ail leaves, a small tear escapes her eye and runs down her cheek, down to the ground.

-

Back at the village, Rinnosuke manages to return, using a large stick to support himself, after Yukari turned around and blasted him to next week.

Miraculously, he has his shirt back on.

Aya flies around the village as fast as light, trying to find more stories for her paper, having already gotten pictures of the flexing idiots, the Kyo beat-down, the Yukari chase, AND the Rinnosuke blast-out.

She hovers just above the houses for a moment and says "boy, I have enough of a scoops here to fill up my entire paper. Maybe I can get some more if I wait around here."

From underneath, Kyo stares up her skirt, and is quickly joined by Rinnosuke.

Both quietly stare, and notice she's wearing white panties with pink flower designs.

Both men drool as the watch, when Aya suddenly realizes she's being peeped on.

She gasps in horror and tries to cover herself as best she can, when very suddenly, both men start to cry and salute her as they shout "SHAMEIMARU~!"

Shortly after, a strong gale strikes the village, sending all men, conscious and unconscious, flying all over the place.

-

Later that night, Ail walks into the village saying to himself "boy, who would have though the Aki sisters could look so cute... and Shizuha has impeccable aim during spring... all that just because I said she looked cute. Oh well, once I get out of the village, I can fly the rest of the way home."

As he says this, he passes by a very large building.

Very suddenly, the two large doors in front open up and three young village girls burst out and surround Ail, smiling and giggling.

All are beautiful, one with long brown hair, the second having short curvy black hair and the third has long wavy blue hair.

Ail gulps and manages to keep his calm and asks "y-yes? Is s-something wrong?"

The girls giggle and the black haired girl says "we have a little problem, and we know YOU, of all people, can help us with."

The brown haired girl angrily adds "since all these disgusting pigs here are acting dirtier than usual, we don't have anyone to be judge!"

Ail asks "judge?"

The blue haired girls says "yeah. We're holding a swimsuit contest and need someone as calm and collected as yourself to judge."

Ail smiles and says "err, look I appreciate you thinking so highly of me, but I REALLY must be-"

The girls grab his arms as the brown haired girl shouts "there's no time! Come on!"

Ail desperately tries to explain his situation, but it was like talking to a brick wall, and so he is pulled inside the building against his will.

-

Inside the building, Ail was met with a surprise he never expected.

The blue-haired girl says "we're all going to wear our swimsuits, walk out on the that cat-walk over there in the center, pose for a moment, then go back. All YOU have to do is honestly say who is the prettiest of all. Simple, no?"

Ail stutters "bu-bu-bu~"

Before he can say more, the brown haired girl says "and here are the contestants: us three gorgeous ladies, miss Sakuya, miss Meiling, miss Keine, miss Mokou and Lily White."

Sakuya elegantly bows, Meiling smiles, Keine blushes and waves at Ail, Mokou angrily looks at the floor saying "but I don't wanna~" and Lily smiles angelically.

Ail starts to tremble a little and tries to talk, but the black haired girl speaks before him, saying "we invited the shrine maiden from the Youkai Mountain, but her guardians said she was suddenly very depressed..."

All thoughts vanish from Ail, concentrating only on Sanae.

The though of her being depressed seemed vexing to him.

He tries to leave again, but the three girls grab him and push him to the judging table and ask him to wait there.

His thoughts were with Sanae now, hoping she is well, and that it's a passing thing for her.

His distraction, however, is cut short when suddenly the blue haired girl announces "and now, the show can BEGIN~!"

-

A disembodied woman's voice, which Ail cannot recognize announces:

"Out first contestant, Mirida Uikinawa, sporting a GORGEOUS flowery swimsuit!"

The black haired girl walks to the end of the cat-walk wearing a one-piece multi-colored flower swimsuit with a large gap at the center of it, covering only her chest and lower torso, leaving her belly and most of her back exposed.

She winks and blows a kiss at Ail, who's heart is beating hard and fast now, sweating large drops of cold sweat.

-

"Next up" exclaims the voice "is Kikiru Hujiro, sporting a beautiful butterfly swimsuit."

The brown haired girl wears a swimsuit that looks like a light-blue and light-orange butterfly on the top, and a smaller violet and light-orange butterfly on the bottom, although the wings did cover her more, helping Ail take a breath of relaxation.

-

The voice speaks again "our next contestant, miss Nia Mikiko, wearing a very revealing piece! Is she trying to win this by favoring the judge?"

The blue haired girl is more developed than the other two.

She wears a simple small light-pink and white polka-dotted two-piece swimsuit that barely covered her chest and bottom.

Ail had to think of many disgusting things in order to keep control over the situation.

-

The voice now says "and now, all the way from the Scarlet Mansion... Sakuya, the hard-working elegant maid, wearing a most elegant swimsuit. I expected no less from her."

Sakuya elegantly walks to the center, wearing a one-piece swimsuit that on top is dark-blue on the left and yellow on the right.

The colors ride down, crossing at the middle, then switching places by the bottom and back.

The suit looks a little tight, revealing a little bit of feature, yet still looking elegant.

Ail bites his hand, hoping the pain will draw his attention away from the lust.

Sakuya notices, but simply walks way as elegantly as ever.

-

The voice now says "also from the Scarlet Mansion, let's hear it for Meiling, who's sporting a gorgeous two-piece. Oh, I wish I could have a body like that!"

Meiling walks to the end of the catwalk wearing an aquamarine two-piece swimsuit with red bat designs on both cups, and on the bottom and the back.

As she walks back, she trips over, but manages to stop her fall by bending down.

Ail sweats as his face turns hotter and hotter.

He grabs the back of his own head and slams it hard against the table, managing to calm down.

-

The voice then says "Oh, what's this? A duet by non-other than the history teacher, miss Keine and her close friend, Mokou, both sporting some seductive pieces! Nia better watch out. These two might tip the scale for her."

Keine blushes as she stands next to Mokou, wearing a blue and white one-piece swimsuit that wraps around the neck at the top, open at the chest, the opening going all the way down to her belly.

The top is blue with white frills on the outsides, while the very bottom is white, all the way to the back.

Mokou wears a very simple dark-red swimsuit with a frilly skirt at the bottom.

Only her back is uncovered.

She looks totally embarrassed, causing her to look even more charming than usual.

Ail punches his forehead hard in order to make the drool stop coming out.

-

The voice excitedly says "and our last contestant, the spring fairy, Lily White, wearing a... very simple swimsuit... Somehow she still looks great!"

Of all the contestants, since Lily looks like a small child, she causes the least effect on Ail.

She wears a simple one-piece swimsuit that is white all over, except for some red waves on the side and the center.

She still wears her hat which falls off as she walks back, but when she bends to pick it up, it causes Ail's heart to beat hard and fast once more.

-

The disembodied voice excitedly says "well folks, that is ALL FOR TONIGHT! And now we wait to hear the judge's-... HEY~! Where did the judge go!?"

On the abandoned judge's table is a piece of paper with the winner's name written on it.

The blue-haired girl gets the piece of paper and reads: "Dear contestants. Due to an emergency from my part, I have to leave before announcing the winner, so I left her name written here in this piece of paper."

Meiling excitedly says "GO ON! Tell us who the winner is already!"

The girl turns the paper around and says "I can't BELIEVE THIS! Mokou! Mokou Fujiwara!"

Upon hearing this, Mokou's face turns bright red and tries to hide away, but the brown haired girl grabs her arm and says "don't be shy! Come on, you won!"

Keine shrieks with glee and says "see Mokou? You ARE pretty. Oh wait... what is the prize for the winner?"

The blue-haired girl sighs and says "it was SUPPOSED to be a date with the judge, but since he had to leave, I suppose a paid meal would suffice?"

Mokou was still too embarrassed to speak, then Keine says for her "that sounds lovely, doesn't it, Mokou?"

With her face still as red as a tomato, Mokou nods, then the other girls cheer with excitement.

From one of the windows, Aya snickers as she kisses her camera and says "this will be a day to remember."

From outside, various men shout "SHAMEIMARU~!"

The tengu takes flight while shouting "get AWAY from me, you PERVERTS!"

-

Arriving at his house, Ail takes various deep breaths and says "of ALL the NIGHTS! This has CERTAINLY have to be a VERY unlucky day! But... I'm home, safe and-"

From behind him Sakuya places a knife on his neck and says "not so fast!"

She wears her regular maid outfit now.

She glares at Ail and says "I noticed that perverted look in your face, you disgusting pervert."

Those words hurt Ail worse than any knife wound. He wants to turn around and confront Sakuya, but he decides it's best not to since he is still under the spell's effects.

Sakuya smiles then says "that's what I WOULD say if I didn't know what happened. Patchouli told me everything, and I must say, you managed to keep control quite well... although questionable at times."

She pulls the dagger away.

Ail relaxes and without turning around he asks "so you knew? Then why didn't you help me back there?"

Sakuya chuckles and says "well, it's not every day I get to tease someone like YOU like that. And also..."

Sakuya's voice faints a little as she says "this has shown me I've always had the right judgment of you from the start. In a way... I have learned much about you tonight."

Ail opens his eyes then asks "Sakuya? Are you-?"

Very suddenly, Sakuya bends her body and kisses Ail on his cheek then flies away backward, smiling and waving at him as she flies away, then turns around.

Ail watches as she goes away, both in shock and surprise.

He enters his house while holding his cheek and wonders if this day was as bad as he though it really was.

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu glares at the skies, watching some bands of energy heading to the Moriya Shrine.

She continues to stare at it as she sips on her tea and says "I'm going to have to do it after all."

At Ail's house, while taking a bath, Ail continues to think about what Sakuya said, about that sudden kiss on the cheek, and then about Sanae.

All his thoughts now turn to her. He finishes his bath and walks to his room, wearing white pajamas, still thinking of Sanae.

He lies on his bed and sighs, then suddenly one of his gaps opens up.

Steam comes out of it. He gets up from bed and cautiously peeks inside.

The steam makes it hard to see inside, but as soon as it clears...

Sanae is taking a bath while thinking about what Kanako and Suwako had told her about Ail having his lust out of control due to a spell.

She sighs sadly and whispers "why not do that for me, dummy..."

Suddenly she looks up and sees one of Ail's gaps and Ail's face watching her through it.

Both Ail and Sanae stare at each other for a moment, then Sanae suddenly screams so loud, the entire mountain hears the echo of her scream.

"AIL, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" shouts Sanae.

Suddenly the two goddesses enter the bath shouting "Sanae, what's the-"

Suwako angrily says "Ail!"

Kanako then says "spell or not, you are DISGUSTING!"

Kanako launches a large log straight at his nose-bleeding face, slamming him hard against the wall, and force-closing his gap.

Kanako asks "Sanae, are you alright?"

Sanae's cheeks turn pink as she says "he did that for me after all? He's so sweet!"

Both Kanako and Suwako can't believe what they hear and shout exclaim at the same time "Sanae, GO TO YOUR ROOM!"

-

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna, Budou, Mirida Uikinawa, Kikiru Hujiro and Nia Mikiko were created by Willie G.R (any similarities are strictly coincidental).

Assistance with chapter by snapshot2010

SEP 11 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	19. Chapter 18

**A Misfired Spell Part 2:**

* * *

The crystal knight, having accomplished an unknown goal, released the dark book from his services, allowing it to go back to sleep.

Now Reimu sees strange energy bands that seem to connect to the Moriya shrine and has decided, she must do something that, apparently, she doesn't want to do.

Ail managed to survive his day of excessive lust, and although he's still confused about Sakuya's actions the night before, his thoughts quickly turn to Sanae again, and the log Kanako sent to his face the night before.

-

Only a few minutes left before the lust spell clears off, and Patchouli Knowledge and her assistant, Koakuma, are already trying their experiment again.

Patchouli stands next to Koakuma, both wearing the very same outfit as Koakuma wore the day before.

Koakuma whimpers and sobs, her face turning red as she looks down at her feet and whimpering "this is so embarrassing!"

Patchouli calmly says "calm down. This time there is no one else here, and I'm going to do this with you this time, so there's no need to worry."

Patchouli and Koakuma step inside a circle, larger than the one the day before, and Patchouli says "alright, just like practice... a~nd... begin!"

Both girls move their hips from side to side in a rhythmic fashion. The circle starts to shine blue and Koakuma excitedly shouts "look, lady Patchouli! It's working, it's working!"

When Koakuma looks at Patchouli, she realizes her mistress' face is purple, her movements are erratic, and before she is able to catch her, Patchouli falls to the ground, wheezing and coughing "mukyu~~ *cough*.

Koakuma immediately stops dancing and calls for her mistress. "Lady Patchouli! Lady Patchouli! Are you ok!?"

Suddenly a pink colored energy envelops both girls, Koakuma screaming in terror, not knowing what is happening, and then it all stops as suddenly as it started.

Koakuma calms down as Patchouli, out of breath, says "K-Koa... get me to my chair please."

As Koakuma pulls Patchouli to her seat, she feels ticklish all over, butterflies fluttering in her stomach, her face turns red and she starts to tremble.

Patchouli quietly observes her and after she regains her breath she says "oh~ this is bad..."

Koakuma stares at Patchouli quite confused, then Patchouli says "remember what happened to Ail and the other males yesterday?"

Koakuma quietly nods. Patchouli's face turns pink as she says "well... it seems this one backfired on ourselves."

Koakuma looks confused and asks "what does that mean, lady Patchouli?"

Patchouli trembles a bit when she replies "both of us, and many other of our female comrades... are going to experience an excessive mount of lust toward males."

In a very calm tone, Koakuma says "oo~~~h~... I see..."

Both Koakuma and Patchouli's faces turn bright red and both start to tremble violently.

-

Remilia Scarlet is unable to sleep and immediately calls on Sakuya, who, as always, immediately answers her mistress' call.

Sakuya almost instantly enters the room and asks "my lady, is something wrong? It's morning and you are already awake?"

Remilia smiles mischievously and says "I feel funny, Sakuya. It's very strange but... Please, bring the human Ail to me."

Sakuya blushes, then bows and says "as you wish, my lady."

Remilia angrily shouts "don't you DARE, Sakuya Izayoi!"

Sakuya twitches and asks "did I do something wrong, my lady?"

Remilia scowls as she turns to face Sakuya and says "I saw that. You just blushed. Don't you dare disobey me, or I will make you pay dearly, understood!?"

Sakuya calmly bows once more and says "understood, my lady."

As Sakuya leaves the room and heads outside to go look for Ail, she thinks "somehow... my lady looks extraordinarily enchanting today."

-

At Kyo's house, Kyo sits in the middle of the sofa while he reads a book Momiji lent him about sword techniques and defense.

Luna sits to his left and casually asks "what's that?"

Kyo replies "ah, a book on sword techniques. I'm hoping to find something useful here for me."

Luna curiously says "ooh~ sounds so interesting."

She starts to pass her hands all over Kyo and smiles very naughtily.

Kyo stops reading and says "well well, what brought this up all of a sudden?"

Kyo drops the book and grabs Luna's chin, pulling her face up and is just about to kiss her, when he feels another pair of hands.

For a moment it strikes him as curious, then he asks "Luna, how can you move your feet like that?"

Luna stops and says "my feet are on the ground."

Kyo looks to his right, and there, right in front of his face, is Youmu and her ghost half, both blushing tomato red and Youmu looking straight at him with tenderness.

He falls off the sofa and asks in a surprise "Y-Youmu!?"

Youmu whispers "Ky~o~!"

Luna angrily shouts "and who do YOU think you are!?"

Youmu turns her sights to Luna's and shouts "hey, don't interrupt us!"

Luna shouts "US!? You are the one interrupting US here, little girl!"

Youmu gasps and shouts "LITTLE!? You'll be surprised to know I am possibly older than you, little girly!"

Luna scoffs then ask "girly!? How DARE you!"

Kyo gets a little nervous and says "whoa, ladies, calm down. I'm sure there's been a misunderstanding here."

Both girls angrily turn to him and shout "YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!"

Kyo gets the shock and surprise of his life and crouches while holding his head in a corner while trembling in fear.

Both girls go to him and pat his back, trying to apologize, but they eye each other again then Luna shouts "Kyo is MY MAN! Go get your own!"

Youmu shouts "I've known Kyo LONG before you even knew about him!"

Suddenly the front door bursts open with Mima standing by the doorway.

She storms toward Kyo, grabs him by the shirt, pulls him to her and says "this hunk is ALL mine. You two can squabble all you want between yourselves. Now hunk, why don't you and I go for a romantic dinner for two, and maybe something more, huh?"

Just before the other two girls could say another word, Suika enters the house, beats Mima away from Kyo with her gourd, grabs Kyo by the back of his shirt, then pulls him away, contently humming as she did.

Luna, Youmu and Mima furiously shout "HANDS OFF MY MAN!"

-

At the same time, at Kourindou, Yukari forces herself inside the closed store by opening a small gap next to the doorknob, and unlocking the few locks inside, quickly entering while shouting "Rinnosuke~! Are you here?"

Sounding really annoyed, Rinnosuke shouts from inside one of the rooms "you DO realize the store isn't open until one more hour, right?"

Glaring angrily at Yukari, Rinnosuke comes to the font, finding Yukari floating boldly in the center of the house while inside one of her gaps.

She giggles and asks "you're not still mad at me for blasting you yesterday ri~ght?"

She bends down and reveals her purple dress, which is open by the chest, revealing a sight for Rinnosuke as she bends down, saying in a very naughty tone "I'm so sorry for that."

Rinnosuke accommodates his glasses and continues to glare at Yukari and asks "are you going to buy something, or did you just come to tell me that?"

Yukari grabs her fan and opens it, covering her mouth and nose as she steps out of her gap.

She places her free hand on Rinnosuke's shoulder twirls behind him and says "don't be so cold. I'm even apologizing to you. You can at least tell me you accept."

Rinnosuke sighs angrily and says "fine, apology accepted. Now could you please stop that. It's very uncomfortable."

Yukari gets close to his ears and is just about to whisper something, when very suddenly she is kicked all the way back outside by Aya, who shouts "Ayayaya! The nerve of some people!"

Rinnosuke notices she broke a window to get in and asks "so are you going to pay for that?"

Aya looks at him a little disappointed and says "aww~! I though you would be happy to see me!"

Rinnosuke sighs and says "might as well just open the store now. So, is there anything you want?"

Aya replies "so cold. Well yes, now that you mention it. Do you have any new merchandise? Perhaps a new camera, maybe some accessories... maybe... you?"

For a moment, it seems Rinnosuke didn't catch on, when suddenly, after showing a few new rare rings to Aya he looks at her directly as she giggles.

He asks "w-what do you mean?"

Aya continues to stare at Rinnosuke in a very seductive manner and starts to unbutton the top of her shirt, but is stopped by a dual kick from Yukari and Eirin.

Immediately, after witnessing this, Rinnosuke exclaims "Eirin!?"

-

At Ail's house, Ail wakes up and starts remembering the swimsuit contest.

He remembers all he saw, but felt no added effect and exclaims "finally, the spell wore off. I'm safe."

He happily hums as he heads to the kitchen and fix himself some breakfast but he gets a surprise when Budou swoops down from the ceiling, shouting "PAPA~! We're home!"

She clings on to him and rubs her cheeks against his.

Ail recovers from the sudden surprise and says "my, Budou. I'm so glad to see you."

She continues to cling on him as he walks to the living room where he asks "Budou, I missed you a lot too, but don't you think you're overreacting?"

Budou gets sad and says "sorry... I just want to be with papa today!"

From the kitchen, Sanae says "Budou, be a good girl now."

Budou sadly says "ok. *YA~WN* I better go to sleep. Last night, big sis and gramma stayed playing all night, and I played too *giggle* Nighty ni~ght"

She kisses Ail on the cheek, flies up to the ceiling and clings upside-down, then wraps her wings around herself, falling asleep quickly.

Meanwhile, Sanae stares at Ail. When Ail notices this, he asks "Sanae? I-is everything ok? You're not mad about... last night... right?"

Ail's heart races as he asks this question, however Sanae smile widens as she says "not at all. Accidents happen, right? Come, have a seat. I made some breakfast for you~!"

She direct Ail to the table and pushes him down on his seat.

At first he is a little confused, but snaps out of it and says "aw, you didn't have to do that. Thank you very much, though. I really appreciate it."

He smiles as he says this, making Sanae shriek with glee.

She serves him the food, and as he thanked her, she grabs the utensils and scoops some of the soup for him and tries to feed him.

Ail is very surprised then innocently says "but Sanae, I can do this myself, you don't have to-"

In the blink of an eye, Sanae ties his hands behind him, grabs the chop-sticks this time and offers him some vegetables.

He shrugs and says "well... I guess I can't now, huh?"

Sanae smiles and says "open wide now. Say 'aahh~'"

Ail sweats a little, but thinks it would be rude of him to say something against it, so he just opens his mouth and accepts her offer.

-

Back at Kourindou, a miniature war has been unleashed.

Eirin, Yukari and Aya have battled hard in the course of 15 minutes, all three are burned, bruised, their clothes torn, all to see who gets to keep Rinnosuke.

He, of course, is begging them to stop, before his store becomes nothing more than a memory.

Yukari angrily declares "we will settle this with ONE spell card each! And since it's MY idea, I will go first!"

Eirin shouts "no, I will go first!"

Aya chuckles and pulls out a spell card and mockingly says "slowpokes. Wind God - Storm Day!"

At the same time, Yukari pulls out her own and shouts "Sinister Spirits - Double Black Death Butterfly!"

and at the same time as well, Eirin pulls a spell card and shouts "Resurrection - Game of Rising!"

Rinnosuke stands in the very middle of the battlefield in front of his house and shouts "PLEASE, LADIES! Calm down... oh no~!"

All three spell cards are unleashed at the same time, all on Rinnosuke, who tired to stop something like this from happening.

The large explosion sends him flying high into the air, unable to stay afloat.

He falls down rapidly, screaming at the top of his lungs.

He thinks "this is it." as the floor gets closer at a quick pace.

He suddenly stops in mid-air, saved by non-other than Marisa, who manages to pull him up to her broom, smiling and saying "hey Kourin. What's up, ze?"

Rinnosuke laughs and says "Marisa, thank heavens! You gotta help me here. These three girls came here, all saying they wanted ME, and now they are blasting everything around because of their stupid contest. You HAVE to help me stop them before they destroy my house, please!"

Marisa smirks and says "sure, no problem."

She lands right in front of Kourindou, pulls out her Hakkero, aims it between the three fighting women and shouts "Love Colored - MASTER SPARK!"

All three stop fighting and notice Marisa a little too late, as all three are engulfed by the mighty beam of colorful light, all three get blasted away; miles away!

Marisa turns around and stares at Rinnosuke. He looks back at her and says "great... you too!"

-

Back at Ail's house, Sanae just finishes feeding Ail.

She smiles and giggles then asks "was it good?"

Ail replies "ah yeah, it was REALLY good. Can you show me that recipe?"

Sanae smiles and nods rapidly, then releases Ail from his bonds.

He grabs her hands and in a soft tone he says "Sanae, let me look at your eyes."

Sanae blushes and giggles then says "of course, darling."

These words felt both right and very chilling to Ail, but he ignores the feeling and just stares into her eyes.

She happily smiles as he continues to stare directly into her eyes and says "I see now. Sanae, I'll be right back."

Sanae sighs sadly as Ail lets her go and rushes to his room.

She hears a bell ring and then Ail pops his head out of his room and says "Sanae, sorry to be a bother, but could you come over here? I need your help!"

Sanae jumps in place and squeals then calms herself down and says "r-right away."

She rushes to his room, which is glowing a weird tone of blue.

Once inside she asks "so? *giggle* What do you need?"

Ail casually asks "could you rest your head on my pillow and tell me if there's something funny about it?"

Sanae looks curiously at him, but smiles and says "sure thing. Anything for you~!"

She sits on his bed and gently places her head on his pillow, and the second she does, she falls completely asleep.

Ail sneaks out of the room and says "that's DEFINITELY a spell. I'll go ask Patchy if there's a counter-spell."

He opens a gap to the Misty Lake and immediately enters it, leaving Sanae and Budou sleeping safely inside his house.

-

At Kyo's house, Luna and Youmu are having a sword-fight inside the house, breaking all the furniture and some ornaments.

Outside, Suika and Mima are having a danmaku battle, making it difficult for the villagers to use the exit close to Kyo's house.

Without realizing it, Kyo has escaped, and is hiding in the Bamboo Forest. "*Pant-pant* What the HELL is wrong with those CRAZY GIRLS! I don't mind the attention, but right now it's more like SUICIDE!"

Kyo sits by a large rock while he tries to sort things out.

The peace and quiet helps him relax, but very suddenly, he is grasped by his shirt and pulled to face the underground oni, Yuugi.

Before Kyo could even move a single finger, Yuugi pulls him close and gives him a passionate kiss.

Just as this happens, Luna, Mima, Suika and Youmu arrive and watch in horror, as they see Yuugi stealing the kiss of their man.

Yuugi pulls Kyo away and says "not bad, little human. I think I really do like you."

Kyo stares back in disbelief and says "well, aren't you the direct type?"

Luna angrily shouts "YOU~!!! How DARE you kiss MY man!"

Mima objects and shouts "he is MY man!"

Suika screams "no, he is MY man!"

Youmu runs to Kyo, grabs him, releasing him from Yuugi's grip, then carries him away.

By the time Yuugi realizes she lost her catch, Youmu is already out of sight.

Yuugi roars and snarls "nobody steals my man!"

Yuugi chases after Youmu, followed closely by the other three girls who debate who really is Kyo's woman.

-

At Kourindou, Marisa locks the front door, trapping Rinnosuke inside with her.

She smiles and jumps on him, knocking him to the ground.

She looks at him straight in the eyes and says "listen carefully. Early this morning there was a magical reaction that has cause me, and from what I can tell, many other girls to behave like crazed animals when dealing with men!"

Rinnosuke trembles for a moment, then asks "wh-why are you telling me this?"

Marisa summons as much will power as she can and says "this... is the same spell you were under yesterday. It's taking me a LOT of my concentration just to tell you this. I want you to go and run away, before one of us... well, you get the idea, right?"

Marisa grabs Rinnosuke's shirt and twists it in her hands, using an enormous amount of will power and concentration in order to keep herself from ripping it off.

Marisa starts to breath heavily when she says "you gotta push me off."

Rinnosuke asks "won't you get mad and blast me if I do that?"

Marisa growls "JUST DO IT!"

Without thinking about it anymore, Rinnosuke sits up with great force, sending Marisa flying backward off him.

She rubs her head and says "now go, run and hide as best as you can... even from me, Kourin."

Rinnosuke quickly heads out his door and runs away as fast as he can, before Marisa, or the other girls can recover.

-

Ail arrives by the Misty Lake via one of his gaps.

Immediately after setting foot outside of it, Cirno walks to him and stares at him.

She says nothing, or does anything. She just stands there and stares at him.

Ail looks back to her curiously and asks "Cirno, is everything ok?"

The little ice fairy doesn't respond, so Ail decides to continue along.

Just as he takes one step, Cirno creates an ice wall just in front of him and says "don't go."

Ail stares back curiously again then says "Cirno, this isn't funny. I need to talk to Patchouli now."

Cirno repeats "don't go!"

Ail sighs, kneels down and asks "did someone hurt you, Cirno?"

Cirno doesn't respond, but jumps and clings on to Ail's right arm.

At first, Ail tries to shake her away, but eventually gives up with a sigh of defeat and says "fine, let's go together to see Patchouli. But you BETTER behave, ok?"

Cirno looks at him and nods, then clings to Ail's arm firmly with both her hands and legs.

-

Sakuya flies by Ail's house, but immediately realizes he is not there.

She flies up to the skies and looks toward Rinnosuke's house. She watches with curiosity the battle between the four girls.

She wonder the reason for such heated battle, but decides not to intervene, seeing as she has a task to accomplish.

She flies toward the Bamboo Forest and spots Youmu carrying Kyo and being chased by 5 more girls.

"What in the heavens is going on here?" Sakuya asks herself as she watches the hilarious, yet dangerous scene, where the girls all push each other away with anything they can find.

Yuugi goes as far as using Suika as a bowling ball to knock out the other three remaining girls and continue the chase on her own, but Luna recovers too quickly and immediately takes the lead.

Sakuya shrugs and thinks "probably a new game" then continues her way.

Landing in the front yard of Entei, Sakuya calls out to Eirin, however, only Reisen comes out.

"Yes, how may I help you?" asks Reisen as she exits the clinic.

Sakuya elegantly bows and says "pardon the intrusion, but by any chance, would mister Ail be around here?"

Reisen's pupils shrink, her iris expand, then she shouts "AIL!? HERE!? Oh MY GOSH!"

She squeals with excitement and runs to her mansions, but just before closing the doors behind her, she angrily stares at Sakuya, frown and shouts "don't you DARE come inside. HE'S MINE!"

She shuts the doors and almost immediately, crashes and explosions are heard coming from inside, along with Reisen's love calls for Ail "Ail, where are you~! Come and be mine and ONLY MINE~! *excited giggle*"

Sakuya is now beyond confusion and whispers to herself "but I only asked if he was here... Something's wrong. I better go and report this to my mistress before continuing my search."

-

Inside Patchouli's library, as Ail enters through it's doors, he says "this place is way too quiet today, don't you think, Cirno?"

Still clinging on to his arm, Cirno quietly nods.

Ail walks to Patchouli's desk in the center of the library and calls for her.

"Patchy~! Patchy I need you help! Sanae's under a spell and..."

As he calls for Patchouli, Ail notices the spell circle on the floor.

Immediately, a cold chill rides down his spine. He quietly backs away and walks to the exit, but what few lights illuminated the already dark library went off in an instant.

Ail trembles as he says "I... we've entered the wolf's cage, Cirno. We need to get out of here... Cirno?"

The dim lights come back on and Ail realizes Cirno is not with him.

"Cirno~!" calls Ail.

Patchouli sits in front of him, pats the chair besides hers and says "don't worry about her. Come, have a seat."

Ail looks around him and realizes Patchouli has sealed him inside a magical barrier. He can't open any gaps or fly.

Realizing he is trapped, he decides to play along and says "why of course, lady Patchouli."

Ail walks to her and sits on the offered chair.

Patchouli pulls him closer and placing her face inches away from his own she asks "why not forget about boring, old Sanae and stay here with me? We could read books... or not. There is even one book around here with the counter spell for this barrier... or not."

By now, Patchouli is gripping tight on Ail's sleeve, and although feeling a little uncomfortable, Ail also feels good about this.

Patchouli slowly takes off her upper robe, then pulls up on her undergarment and says "hope you don't mind. It's just so hot in here."

Ail smiles and says "why yes it is... yes it is."

Somehow, Ail manages to keep his mind occupied with trivial things, managing to resist Patchouli's seduction attempts.

He looks around for a moment then says "you know, you are very right, this place is too hot. Someone should..." he raises his voice "COOL THIS PLACE DOWN!"

Patchouli wonders what is going on, and from the other side of the library Cirno shouts "I am the stronge~st! Freeze Sign - Perfect FREEEEZE!"

All over the Library, large clumps of ice materialize in thin air, and the air gets so cold Ail can see his breath.

Patchouli is forced to pull down her clothes and put on her robe, losing her concentration and giving Ail the chance he needs to escape.

Before flying away, he looks for Cirno, who is next to a frozen solid Koakuma.

Ail swoops down and picks her up as she shouts "look, I freeze her, just like that. I am the strongest!"

She clings on to Ail's arm again as he smiles and says "you certainly are, Cirno. Now let's get out of here!"

-

Back at the village, Kyo is beside himself with anger, as the girls all take their turn holding him.

First, Luna steals him from Youmu, then Yuugi steals him from Luna, then Suika kicks Yuugi away, then Mima blasts Suika so she can get Kyo, then Youmu again, and the cycle continues on and on.

Unable to say a single word to his defense, Kyo is forced to be dragged all over the place by the girls, all the way back to his home.

Just outside his door, Medicine watches and waits. All the girls keep arguing and fighting over Kyo, then stop as soon as Medicine gets in the very center of their little battleground.

Nobody says a word and just stare at each other, then Medicine spews out a thick lilac cloud.

All except Luna, Kyo and Medicine herself, start hallucinating about giant bees and pocket sized rabbit ears.

Kyo, Luna and Medicine run far away from the others, then Medicine grabs hold of his leg and says "big brother!", then Luna clings on to his neck and says "my Kyo~!"

Kyo smiles and says "I know I'm look good and all that, but what is up with all of you? You're acting as if I was some sort of prize or something."

Luna notices Medicine, Holding on to Kyo's leg, then says "oy, Medi. Why don't you go away for a while, so me and Kyo can have some privacy?"

Medicine growls and says "NO! Why don't YOU go and do your nails while big brother and I go hang out! Right Kyo?"

Kyo realizes his words are falling on deaf ears and thinks "this is a really bad day after all."

Kyo hears some men screaming in terror around the village's center and notices various men running away from a large number of females, then realizes something is wrong.

While Luna and Medicine argue, a hand grabs Kyo from the back and pulls him away.

"What the hell?" exclaims Kyo.

Rinnosuke covers his mouth and says "keep your voice down! Do you want them to find us?"

Kyo then whispers "R...Rinnosuke? What's going on here?"

Rinnosuke whispers "there's a magic spell going around, making all the girls act all crazy. From what I can understand, it's the lust spell that got US yesterday."

Kyo gasps and says "wait... you mean they want to...?"

Rinnosuke nods and says "exactly. The problem is there are too many of them after very few of US, which means..."

Kyo finishes saying "that they're going to kill each other, and probably us too, just to get us... What do we do?"

Rinnosuke smirks and says "we hide, my friend. We hide."

-

Sakuya flies above the village and watches as the village women chase the men around, fighting and arguing amongst each other as they do.

She sighs and says "this seems to be happening everywhere. I'm worried. What if my lady... My lady?"

Sakuya remembers how aggressive Remilia got when she blushed after mentioning Ail's name.

She gasps and says "My lady! She must be under some spell. Reporting to her would be dangerous now. I better report to lady Patchouli instead."

A large explosion from the mansion fills Sakuya's face with fear.

"Oh no... I hope that's not what I think it is." said Sakuya to herself as she rushes back to the mansion.

-

A few minutes earlier, in the Scarlet Mansion, Ail and Cirno run away from Meiling, who rips off her vest and starts calling Ail her 'wubbly' as she chases them.

Ail tries opening his gaps, but Patchouli's seal is still in effect, although weakened.

Ail flies backward and shouts "Meiling, get a hold of yourself! You're under a spell!"

Meiling continues to run after Ail, breaking everything that gets in her way, even some portrait of the mistress.

She blushes beet read when she shouts "ok, I'll stop. Just let me hold you~!"

Ail is unable to fly anymore and starts to run with Cirno still holding on tightly to his shoulder.

Meiling doubles her efforts now, running twice as fast.

Ail takes a left, a right, another left, a third left, then realizes he is cornered. He whimpers "crap, wrong turn."

Meiling breathes heavily behind him, holding her arms up and gesturing her hands, as if grabbing something in the air and says "*pant* I *pant* got you *pant* now!"

She smacks her lips, takes a deep breath and shouts "now give me ALL YOUR LO~-... eh?"

Under her feet, an explosion breaks the floor, sending her falling to the darkness below.

When she gets up, she looks around and realizes she is in the kitchen, where Sakuya has left many pastries, all ready to be eaten.

For a moment, she thinks of jumping back up, however, a large cherry pie with whipped cream topping gets her attention.

She stares at it for a moment, blushes and JUMPS straight toward the cherry pie with here eyes looking like large pink hearts and shouting "MY ONE TRUE LOVE~! *munch munch munch* OHH, so sweet... ooh, a cherry!"

-

Back at the top, Ail cautiously leaves the corner he was just in, looking at all corridors before stepping out while saying "hey, Cirno, are you alright? We have to get out of here, Cirno. Before-"

"Before what?" asks a child-like, yet mature and powerful voice.

Ail trembles as he turns around and spots Remilia flapping her wings with force just feet away from him, smiling at him with a most mischievous smile.

Ail tries to back away but Remilia shouts at the top of her lung "STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Ail gulps as he and Cirno tremble in fear.

Remilia's eyes glow scarlet, bearing her teeth as she speaks.

"Anilan Inmodo Leuch... Ail. I have selected you to be my eternal companion in the darkness of the night. Now, come here and let us begin the ritual for your conversion to vampire."

Ail sweats and says "sorry, but I'm not ready for that yet."

Remilia screams to the air in a rage and strikes Ail so fast, he could barely see her.

The impact is so strong, she sends Ail and Cirno flying in different directions.

When Ail gets up, he spots Cirno 10 feet away from himself, unconscious on the floor.

Ail gets angry and shouts "you IDIOT! Look what you did to Cirno!"

Remilia stands dangerously close to Ail, pulls him by the shirt and casually says "I don't care about weak little fairies. Now, this will only hurt for a second."

Remilia opens her mouth and pulls Ail's neck close, but a cold missile strikes her back, making her shriek in pain and letting go of Ail.

-

Remilia turns around and snarls at Cirno, who stands firm and says "I am the strongest, and don't you dare forget it!"

There is a glint in Remilia's eye, and Ail knows this can't be good for Cirno, so he crawls as fast as he can in front of Cirno, and in the blink of an eye, various claw marks cover his forearms and one single mark on the left side of his face.

His blood drips on the floor as he manages to turn around and smile at Cirno, asking "are you ok?"

Cirno angrily replies "hey, don't do that! That's supposed to be for ME!"

A tear falls from Cirno's eye, then she places her hand on her chest and asks "why does this hurt so much now?"

Ail smiles and says "let me handle this now, Cirno... and thanks for your help."

Cirno wipes the tears from her eye and quietly nods, then quickly hides behind a small ornamental table.

Ail turns to face Remilia and asks "you are much more powerful than the last time we fought, Remilia. Tell me, did you let me win that night?"

Remilia smirks and says "so you finally figured it out. Reimu wasn't fooled, you know?"

Ail feels a strange sickening feeling in his stomach as he asks "why did you let me win, then!?"

Remilia hisses at him and says "what does that matter!? All that matters now is for YOU to become my eternal partner."

Ail defiantly replies "that's NOT gonna happen!"

Remilia growls then pulls out a spell card while saying "you DARE defy ME? I'll have to teach you who is the boss around here! Scarlet Devil - Sca-"

Before she is able to finish her declaration, Ail pulls a spell card and shouts out loud "BRIGHTNESS - BLINDING HEART!"

Various rings of light, accompanied by large orbs of pure light grow from Ail's own heart and strike Remilia just before she finished her spell declaration, sending her back almost 50 feet away, and blowing up the outside walls in the process.

Ail smiles and says "two birds with one bright stone. Let's go Cir-"

Like a blur, Remilia grabs Ail's arms and pushes her face as hard as she can toward Ail's neck.

At just inches away from claiming her prize, Ail manages to free his right arm and block his neck.

Remilia takes a bite, causing Ail to scream in pain as he shakes his arm, trying to force her to let go.

When she realizes she missed, she lets go and backs away.

She slurps and smacks her lips then says "ahh, refreshingly delicious, but not exactly what I wanted. Now, let's try again."

An icy gust from the left traps Remilia inside a solid block of ice, and that's when Cirno says "you can't beat a genius as strong as me."

Ail smiles and says "come on Cirno, let's go."

Cirno follows Ail outside, looking with wonder at his wounds.

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu happily hums to herself as she ties up a rope to a tree.

From close by, Maribel says "umm... miss Reimu, why are you doing all this?"

Reimu giggles and says "because I want no interruptions when he comes."

Renko sweats and says "you are being so UNFAIR! Let us GO!"

Reimu dusts her hands and says "why? So you can get in my way? No way. You stay there and wait like good little girls, alright?"

Renko and Maribel are now tied together to one of the shrine's trees, Maribel wiggling her ears in discomfort and saying "this is so uncomfortable. And I need to use the bathroom too!"

Renko panics and shouts "Reimu, Reimu~, Reimu~~! You have to let Mary go, NOW~!"

Reimu scoffs and says "I'm not that gullible."

From behind Reimu, a loud thud rattles the floor.

Maribel asks "er, miss Reimu? What was that?"

Reimu pulls out her gohei and some charms from under her sleeve and says "just a really large bug. I'll take care of it."

Reimu calmly walks toward the crystal knight, who just stands there, staring at her.

He raises his arm above his head and prepares a large concentration of energy.

Reimu smiles and waits for his next move.

The knight laughs wickedly and positions himself ready to fire that large concentrated bullet at Reimu, but the moment he moves, she sends a charm under his feet, making him drop the energy on himself, making him scream in agony.

She confidently walks closer, smiles again and says "you lose... and after all those preparations, too."

She grabs a spell card and shouts "Treasure Tool - Yin-Yang Demon God Orb!"

A large yin-yang orb made out entirely of pure white energy engulfs the knight, causing him to scream loud into the air as his armor turns to ash and the light slowly consumes him.

Reimu only watches, as the silhouette of the knight disappears along with the energy orb.

She scoffs and says "I guess he was all bark and no bite. RIGHT GIRLS!?"

Renko shouts "did you just finish off the knight!?"

Maribel trembles as she shouts "I really need to use the bathroom Reimu~!"

Reimu laughs and says "yeah, right. You wait there. Ooh, he's gonna be so happy when I tell him the knight is no more!"

-

At the Misty Lake, Ail finishes cleaning the last of the wounds by the water, then bandages his arm with some first-aid cloth he had in his pocket.

Cirno says "you should have let me protect you. A bite like that could have NEVER done that to me!"

Ail chuckles and rubs her head as he kneels by her and says "thank you very much, Cirno."

From behind him, Sakuya asks "Ail, what is going on around here?"

Ail flips away and faces Sakuya saying "Sakuya, listen to me. The same lust spell that took over me yesterday has taken over you and all the other girls!"

Sakuya exclaims "WHAT?! So that explains why so many girls were chasing the men, back at the village. Even Kyo and Rinnosuke."

Ail looks into Sakuya's eyes and asks "wait, you're not affected?"

Sakuya shakes her head and says "Patchouli mentioned yesterday that the spell doesn't affect everyone."

Ail takes a sight of relief and says "thank goodness. I wasn't looking forward to fighting you now."

Sakuya looks at him confused, then Ail says "Cirno saved me from Remilia a little while back. You should go thaw her out."

Sakuya nods and says "the Hakurei Shrine looks calm. You should go there, see if everything's ok, and if it is, get Kyo and the other men there, or there might be trouble."

Ail laughs and says "funny how girls become so dangerous when.... Never mind."

Sakuya stares at him dangerously, but then smiles and says "I'll go take care of my lady now. Good luck to you" then flies back to the mansion.

Ail turns to Cirno and says "Cirno, thank you very much for helping me today. I owe you one." and rubs her head as he finishes his sentence.

Cirno stares at him quietly, then nods.

Ail lifts off into the air just as Daiyousei flies next to Cirno.

Another tear falls from Cirno's eye as she grabs her chest while watching Ail leave.

She sobs then says "Dai-chan? Why does this hurt again?"

Daiyousei worriedly asks "hurt? Where does it hurt!?"

Cirno pats her chest with the palm of her hand and says "it's the second time. It hurts. Can you make it go away?"

Daiyousei turns Cirno to her and gives her a hug, then Cirno starts sobbing more.

She pats the ice fairy's head and tries to comfort her to the best of her abilities.

-

To be continued...

Characters scenario and spell cards belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna, Budou, and Ail's "Brightness - Blinding Heart" spell card were created by Willie G.R.

Assistance with the creation of this chapter by snapshot2010

SEP 14 2009

written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**This was supposed to be only 2 chapters long, but there are a few more girls I want to add here, not to mention a few more messes here and there. Man, I made Cirno ry like that... I'm SO SORRY CIRNO! She's so innocent, she doesn't know the 'whys' of what's happening to her. It's a good thing she has Daiyousei. I wish Letty would wake up, though. Ah well.  
**


	20. Chapter 19

**A Misfired Spell part 3:**

* * *

And so, Patchouli and Koakuma tried their lust collecting spell again very early in the morning, however Patchouli fainted mid-way through the process, causing almost all females in Gensokyo to have an overdose of lust through magic.

Now the males all run for dear life, including Kyo, Rinnosuke, who are hiding at the moment, and Ail, who tries to get Patchouli's help, only to realize it was a large-scale spell, like the one the day before.

Reimu has dealt with the crystal knight, and now waits for someone to arrive at her shrine, having also tied up Renko and Maribel, claiming they would get in her way.

-

Rinnosuke and Kyo hide under some bushes, while the group of girls all join forces to find them.

The two men watch in horror as the girls search for them quite aggressively.

Luna begins to sniff around, and that's when Kyo panics.

Kyo trembles and whimpers, then whispers to Rinnosuke "we have to move, NOW!"

Rinnosuke asks "why? We're safe here."

Kyo replies "you don't understand. Luna is sniffing, and she can smell-"

"I smell FEAR~" shouts Luna before Kyo can finish his sentence.

She immediately heads toward the bushes they are hiding under then cuts them down, revealing the two trembling men.

Luna smirks and says "All mine!"

From behind, Yuugi tackles Luna to the ground and steps on her back.

She grabs Kyo and says "my man!"

Suika kicks Yuugi away and tries to catch Kyo, but Luna furiously gets up, knocking Suika off.

Yukari tries for Rinnosuke, but Aya is already flying away with him, however, Eirin makes a mixture of chemicals that fills the air with a sent that makes Aya relax to the point of almost falling asleep, catching Rinnosuke after Aya drops him.

Marisa flies fast on her broom and snatches Rinnosuke from Eirin's hands, then tries to fly away, but she accidentally crashes with Mima, who has Kyo in her hands at that moment, capturing Kyo as well.

Upon watching this, all the girls shout "HEY~!" at the same time.

Marisa looks at Kyo and says "you're extra baggage here, ze."

From below, every single girl shoots danmaku at Marisa, who tries to dodge, but Kyo's extra weight makes it hard for her to dodge, causing her to fall on a tree, and the men back on the ground, away from the girls.

Rinnosuke and Kyo look at each other, nod with a brave expression in their faces, then start running while screaming in terror.

Marisa, Eirin, Yukari, Aya, Luna, Youmu, Suika, Yuugi, Mima, and even Medicine all chase after their prized men.

-

After getting away from the Scarlet Devil Mansion and the Misty Lake, Ail is finally able to open his gaps again, however he decides to fly to the Hakurei Shrine, instead of using them.

He looks to the Youkai Mountain and sees some commotion there, then the Human Village.

It's a real mess in there, with women running all around, literally destroying obstacles and possible hiding places for the men.

He then turns his attention to Entei and spots Reisen chasing Tewi quite aggressively.

At the Forest of Magic, everything seems peaceful, however some trees shake violently and under those trees various male youkai run for their lives as they are chased by female youkai.

Ail shivers and says "it's much worse than I though. Geez, yesterday wasn't as dangerous. Women are scary indeed."

He looks to the Hakurei Shrine and notices everything looks peaceful there, so he goes down thinking "well it looks safe here, just like Sakuya said... Still... better keep my guard up."

-

Landing on the shrine grounds, Ail looks around, but sees nothing except a seemingly empty shrine surrounded by beautiful trees.

He takes a sigh of relief and says to himself "well it does look peaceful... but I can't be certain until I speak with Reimu."

A slap on his shoulders makes him jump in place with a loud yelp, turning around and seeing Reimu just behind him.

He quickly backs away and trembles as he asks "R-R-Reimu? Err, Reimu~! How are you?"

Reimu smiles angelically and says "why hello Ail. I am fine, thanks for asking! I see you're looking quite fine too."

Ail calms down and says "y-yeah... hey, where are Renko and Maribel?"

Reimu casually answers "oh, they said they had some business at the village and would be back by tonight."

From behind one of the trees, Renko and Maribel try to shout, but a charm prevents them from being heard, while another hides them from plain sight.

Ail looks around for a moment and says "ooh~ I see."

Reimu takes a good look at Ail and shouts "and where the HELL did you get all those cuts, mister!?"

Ail panics, but tries his best to smile as he says "hah hah hah, well you see, I went to the Scarlet Mansion and Remilia got... err... mad.. right, mad. Thing is, she used a lot of her power on me this time."

Reimu sighs and says "so it seems you now know she let you win last time, huh?"

Ail smiles and says "it doesn't matter now. Anyway, I need to ask-"

Reimu grabs his hand and violently pulls him inside the shrine, interrupting his sentence and saying "well whatever, let's go inside. I got some medicine for that."

Ail tries to get away by saying "no, wait. I already treated all the cuts. Ask Cirno."

-

Reimu pulls Ail inside the shrine by force.

Without turning around, Ail says "look, I really appreciate this but I'm telling you, I'm fine. I already-"

Reimu closes the doors shut as Ail turns around.

Ail sweats and asks "you sealed my gaps, didn't you?"

Reimu smiles and nods.

Ail asks "and you made it so I can't fly away from here, right?"

Reimu smiles and nods, getting closer this time.

Ail sweats a lot and asks "and now you're going to try and force me to be yours, right?"

Reimu slowly turns her head left and right and says "I'm going to MAKE you mine."

She smiles a very similar smile to that of Yuka's as she gets closer to Ail.

He sweats as he tries to back away, his heart beating fast and hard.

He trips on his own foot and falls hard on his back.

Reimu wastes no time in jumping on him immediately.

Ail trembles and says "Re-Re-Re-REIMU~! There's a lust spell going on, you know? You are under that spell right now, s-s-so, try and get a hold of yourself.

Reimu smile mischievously and says "I already know. I LET it take me, you fool."

Ail shouts "what?! WHY?"

Reimu smirks and says "it didn't seem harmful at all. Now, why don't you just relax? You can't escape, so you might as well just accept th-"

A large explosion breaks open the doors of the shrine, causing Reimu to get up and shout "MY HO~USE! Who could have done this!?"

From the smoke comes Lily White who flies straight to Ail, clings on his right shoulder, kisses his cheek and says "I found you~!" with a most angelic smile on her face.

Reimu stomps on the floor while screaming "get AWAY from him, you tiny terror!"

Lily stares angrily at Reimu and says "mine!"

Ail manages to get up and says "calm down you two!"

Lily and Reimu both blast him with danmaku as Reimu shouts "YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!"

Lily let's go of the blasted Ail and flies to Reimu, meeting face to face with her then angrily shouts "MINE!"

Reimu grabs Lily by her cheeks and stretches her face as much as she can.

After escaping, Lily, with some tears in her eyes, grabs Reimu's nose, lifts her up to the air and sends her flying over her own little head, causing Reimu to crash against the wall with her feet hanging in the air.

Reimu quickly recovers, rushes to Lily, then grabs her cheeks again, this time Lily grabs Reimu's as well, and now both stretch their faces as much as they can.

Ail quietly sneaks out and is about to leave, but senses Maribel's presence.

-

He looks around, following the faint trail of magic emanation from Maribel.

He touches the tree in which they are bound and immediately pulls the charm that made them invisible to him.

"Maribel!? Renko!? Who did this to you!?" excitedly asks Ail as he unties them.

Renko sounds very annoyed when she says "the same evil maiden you just escaped from. Now get us OUT OF HERE!"

As soon as Ail unties the ropes Maribel springs up and rushes straight at him.

Her expression was that of dangerously angry, so Ail crouches and covers his head while trembling.

Maribel rushes past him and heads straight to the shrine's bathroom.

Renko casually says "such bravery."

Ail slowly gets up and realizes he's safe, then looks at Renko and asks "what just happen?"

Renko blushes, but immediately turns away and says "sh-she needed to use the bathroom."

Ail sighs and says "so you two are also-"

"affected by the spell..." continues Renko.

"Yes, we are affected, but unlike all these other girls, I can keep my concentration."

Ail smiles and says "good. I won't have to run away from you, then."

Renko doesn't reply, but stares seriously at Ail and says "you should know, Maribel saw something strange going on with the barrier a little while go."

Ail turns his face to look at Renko, which causes her to blush and sweat, so she immediately turns her face away.

Ail sighs and says "great. We got that knight and the barrier to deal with after all."

Renko raises her head, but doesn't look at Ail when she says "wait, Reimu took care of the knight earlier. He's no more."

Ail's face turns serious for a moment, but then smiles and says "oh... I see. Well that's one less problem, then."

In an instant, Ail has Maribel, Reimu and Lily clinging on to him from his back.

He trembles and says to Renko "don't move... they react to movement."

He stops trembling, then Reimu asks "eh? Nothing's happening."

Lily sobs "broke-he-he-hen~"

then Maribel says "ooh, maybe if I do this..."

She pinches Ail on the butt, causing him to jump.

"Ah-HA!" exclaims Reimu, but Maribel and Lily get in her way, then Maribel says "I fixed him, so he should be mine!"

Reimu smirks and asks "think you can take me on?"

Lily smirks and curls into a ball.

Ail knows what's going to happen, so he signals Renko to move away, then he flies away as fast as he can.

After he leaves, Reimu shouts "after him!" but Lily uncurls and unleashes a hellish amount of damaku, shouting "he's MI~NE!"

-

As he flies toward the town, Ail's bracelet does the familiar droplet sound and the image of the Hakurei shrine appears above the white crystal.

He looks at it curiously, then snaps his fingers and says "I know where I can hide for a while... I hope."

Without realizing it, Marisa flies beside him and says "that's a really cool bracelet, ze."

Ail casually responds "yeah, it looks kinda nice too~whoa!"

Finally realizing Marisa is right beside him, Ail takes a step away and says "I'm warning you, I'm not gonna go easy on you!"

Marisa shakes her hand while saying "whoa, whoa, whoa, easy now"

Ail relaxes, but continues to watch her in case she tries something.

Marisa scans the ground and asks "have you seen Kourin? He and Kyo ran away earlier, but we can't find either one of them now."

Ail thinks "lucky bastards managed to run away" then says to Marisa "you don't say?"

Marisa smiles and says "well, no matter. If I can't find Kourin..." she smirks and gets closer to Ail and says "...I can always have you, right?"

Ail panics, then from behind, Youmu shouts "MARISA YOU CHEATER!"

Ail and Marisa look behind and see: Youmu, Luna, Eirin, Yukari, Kaguya, Reisen, Mokou, Meiling, Patchouli, Yuyuko, Yuugi, Suika, Mima, Lily, Maribel, Ran, Yuka, Medicine, Aya, Momiji, and even Rumia and Mystia.

All shout at the same time "He's mine!"

They turn to each other and say "WHAT do you mean!? He's mine!"

One hellish danmaku battle is unleashed in the skies, so Ail decides to fly away, however before he is able to go far, Reimu shouts "he is mine, so you can all forget about him!" then fires various needles all around, landing one on the back of Ail's head, sending him crashing to the Forest of Magic.

"Oh crap!" exclaims Reimu as Ail falls to the forest.

Upon crashing, a large cloud of dust covers the trees, but the girls ignore it and follow inside it after him.

-

At a temple near the Human Village, a black gap opens up at it's courtyard,and from inside comes Ail, holding his body and writhing in pain.

He breathes heavily as he trembles and manages to compose himself, pulling off Reimu's needle.

He closes the gap and says "Yukari must be tougher than she lets on. How can she SURVIVE being so long in there? No matter now... seems I managed to get here."

He looks around and slowly walks to the entrance, admiring the columns and adornments, all shimmering along with the afternoon sun.

He arrives at the doors and is about to knock on them when they open on their own.

Ail jumps away upon seeing Byakuren at the entrance.

Byakuren looks at him surprised and says "Mister Ail! So you finally came!"

Ail asks "don't you want to take me inside, abduct me and make me yours forever?"

Byakuren sighs and says "so the village men weren't lying after all."

Ail lowers his guard and says "good. You aren't affected by the spell. Don't know why I suspected as much."

Byakuren giggles and says "you didn't come here to hide like the others. What is it you came here for?"

Ail bows and says "please forgive me for being so rude, but I need a really big favor from you."

She looks at him with great curiosity and asks "oh, is it about the knight?"

Ail smiles and says "quite perceptive. You know, a woman like you would be a great catch."

She blushes and angrily says "hey, watch that tongue."

Ail bows apologetically and says "I'm sorry... even with this bracelet.... never mind, please hear me out, my lady."

-

At the forest, the girls look for Ail, like searching for a needle in a haystack.

They all call for him, sounding quite worried.

Reimu inspects the area where he had fallen very closely.

She kneels and touches the ground, then looks at the ruined bushes at the end of the trail where his body had supposedly gone through.

She smirks and quietly flies away from the rest, without the others realizing it.

As she flies away from the forest, she thinks "so he thinks he can trick me that easily? I'll find him, and when I do, ooh-ho-ho the things I'll do."

She looks down as she passes over the village and notices many of the girls there crying or furiously searching around, calling out to their men.

Reimu ponders for a moment and thinks "maybe I should block this spell and just help him already... Nah! It's too much fun like this."

She stops and continues to watch the village women, then looks to the horizon and notices a beautiful full moon rising from the east as the sun quietly sets to the west.

She falls down to the ground as her mind is filled with visions of an older looking Budou, looking down to her with aquamarine colored eyes, laughing as Ail stands by her side, protecting her from harm.

Reimu gets up and fires various charms at Budou, but Ail's barriers prevent her, or any of her bullets from getting close, so she instinctively fires various needles at him, and then she wakes up on the floor of the center of the village.

All the girls just stand staring at her.

"Are you alright, miss maiden?" asks one of the girls.

Reimu nods while holding on to her head and says "sorry to scare you... just... I'm just tired, I guess."

-

Byakuren enters the temple and shouts "alri~ght, it's safe to come out now!"

The empty temple gets filled with many of the men who were hiding behind curtains, under floor tiles, behind columns, and even inside large pots and under plants.

Even Kyo and Rinnosuke come out of hiding from inside a column.

Byakuren then shouts "now listen up! Ail's going to try and keep the other girls from reaching here, however it's still a matter of time before-"

Byakuren stops when she gazes on the terrified looks on the men as Reimu stands just behind Hijiri.

She smiles and says "relax, boys. I'm not here to hunt you. Byakuren, can you tell me if you've seen a brown-haired boy who wears dark clothes around?"

Byakuren gulps, making Reimu smirk as she says "I see you already know Ail. He's been here too, right?"

Byakuren keeps quiet, trying to think of anything to say to Reimu, but she can't come up with anything.

Reimu looks at her seriously and says "look, I placed a barrier around myself, so I'm no longer man-hunting. I just need to talk to him. It's very important."

Byakuren thinks for a moment while staring at Reimu, then she nods and says "err, sure... He said he would be near the eastern side of the Misty Lake."

Reimu smirks and says "ah thank you. Oh, and I lied about the barrier."

Byakuren gets a little annoyed and shouts "well that's not a nice thing to do, miss maiden!"

Reimu chuckles and says "we do what we must. Oh, and you all better start running. Miss Keine is around, and there's a beautiful full moon out there."

The men panic after Reimu says this and leaves humming happily.

Byakuren asks Kyo "who is miss Keine?"

Kyo trembles as he points at the door. Byakuren turns around and spots the history teacher wearing a green dress, having a pair of horns on her head, a tail, breathing heavily while glaring at everyone with her blood red eyes, and smiling in a very twisted manner.

Byakuren says "oh dear..." then Keine bends her body and shouts "I'll make HISTORY with my MAN!"

She charges inside like a raging animal.

Byakuren is able to fly away just in time, while the men jump out the windows.

Only Rinnosuke and Kyo remain, both refusing to leave Byakuren with the mess alone, as payment for hiding them.

They look at each other, nod, then split up.

-

Ail sits under the full moon in an open field, close by the Misty Lake, talking to himself as he waits.

"These slip-on shoes are so uncomfortable for running... and I forgot my robe back home, so I look kind of silly now... And even looking like this, those girls still want to get me. *sigh* Can't wait until Nitori fixes my boots... Hope she's not adding those inventions of her in them."

Ail feels ticklish all over, then blushes a little.

"He he he... HAHAHAHA What the hell!? Hahaha.... oh..."

He opens a gap and sends 5 lasers inside, then quickly closes it.

At an unknown location, Siki and Komachi tickle Ail's ghost half.

Komachi giggles and says "ooh, look at it wiggle. So cute"

Siki blushes with a smile and adds "I shouldn't be doing this, but it looks so cute."

In just a second, 5 lasers zip in from Ail's gaps, blasting Siki twice and Komachi 3 times.

Both girls lie on the ground while the white spirit looks at them.

Komachi complains "he didn't appreciate it."

Siki sighs, expelling a thick cloud of smoke from her mouth and says "I shouldn't let you talk me into these things."

Ail closes his eyes now and crosses his legs, then starts floating in mid-air, meditating.

While still in meditation, Ail asks "you know about the barrier, right?"

A few feet in front of him, Reimu replies "yes, but it's nothing serious. I can ask Yukari to fix it."

As Ail continues to meditate, Reimu slowly paces around him and says "so you just gave up, huh? Staying in plain sight and telling Hijiri exactly where you would be. Are you ready for me?"

Ail chuckles and says "not gonna happen, Reimu. Besides, I like you as a friend. A very special friend at that."

He opens his eyes and stands firmly on the ground as Reimu laughs and says "I'm not giving you the choice."

Ail smirks and says "I know you can block this spell, and yet you refuse to do so. Why is that?"

Reimu smirks back, trying to hide her pain that comes into plain view from her eyes, tears betraying her forced smile as she says "you haven't got a clue what it is like to have a restrictive life-style, Ail."

Ail's smirk vanishes when he looks at her and says "I may not understand many things, Reimu, but I do understand doing something like this will only end up hurting both of us."

Ail charges up both hands with concentrated energy and points them at Reimu while saying "so I'm going to do all I can to stop you."

Reimu chuckles, wiping the tears off her eyes and says "you know you have very little chance of stopping me."

-

Back at Byakuren's temple, Keine has smashed through tables, columns and even walls.

Byakuren is beyond herself with distress, trying to help Kyo and Rinnosuke stop Keine, but if she tries using spells inside, she ends up destroying more things as well.

Kyo shouts "hey, Rinnosuke! outside!!"

Rinnosuke shouts "but the other girls are OUT there!"

Kyo shouts "trust me. Byakuren, thanks for everything, and sorry for this mess."

Rinnosuke adds "we'll help you clean it up later!"

Byakuren opens the front gates and says "good luck!"

Kyo and Rinnosuke stand in front of the gate and shout "over here~!"

Keine snorts and says "I'll make it QUICK, I promise!"

She charges at them again, pointing her horns directly to them.

Kyo and Rinnosuke both run as fast as they can back outside, where the girls are waiting for them.

Youmu excitedly shouts "here they come!"

Luna says "oh, my Kyo's coming straight for me!"

Yukari immediately opens a gap and goes away, then Yuugi exclaims "what's that thing behind them!?"

As they run for their lives, Kyo shouts "On 3!!!"

At the same time, he and Rinnosuke shout "THREE!!!" then split up just as they reach the girls, Kyo grasping Luna by her arm and taking her away.

The other girls are about to give chase, but in an instant, they are all sent flying up, holding their sides, their behinds, and screaming in pain as Keine continues her charge.

She crashes against a tree, getting her horns stuck on it.

She desperately shouts "oh.. oh no! Somebody help me~!"

Mokou, the only girl she missed in her charge, stands beside her, kneels and says "you just charged those horns at everyone, and missed me by a miracle. Now you are calling for help..? I expect something in return."

Keine sobs and says "you're so mean... Alright, what do you want?"

Mokou smiles, pats Keine on the back of her head and says "I'll think about it."

She pulls Keine out of the tree, then says "we better get out of here before the other girls recover!"

-

Finally back at their house, with all their furniture miraculously intact, Kyo and Luna sit by the couch next to the fireplace.

Luna clings on him and kisses him on the cheek and says "I knew you'd pick me. I just knew it. Now how about we have a little... alone time?"

Kyo is angry, and for good reasons.

He grabs her shoulders and says "you chased me around like a wild animal, used me as a beach ball, dragged me all over the town and the forest, forced me to hide in a temple, almost causing it's total destruction, and now you think I'm in a good mood for you?"

Kyo lifts her up in the air, kisses her forehead and says "still, I can't stay mad at you for long... just... I'm going to sleep now."

He places Luna back on the couch then heads to the second floor to sleep.

Luna sits there, blushing and lightly brushes her forehead with her fingertips, then giggles.

She runs to the kitchen, grabs a piece of paper and a pen and ink, scribbles something quickly, then places it on the couch and rushes back upstairs.

-

Rinnosuke finally returns home.

Miraculously, his window is repaired, and none of his merchandise seem to be missing.

Not even the rare items he was showing Aya in the morning.

He looks back as he slowly closes the door and locks it, then heads to his room.

While in bed, he remembers all that happened that day.

He thinks "one of the busiest days in my life and I didn't sell a thing. I'm just glad they are all gone now."

He closes his eyes for a second, then opens them again to see Yukari floating inside on of her gaps right on top of him.

He gets a shock and fails to react as Yukari gets out of her gap and gets on top of him, trapping him in the process.

He snaps out of the shock and says "Yukari, no! Just stop this already!"

Yukari pushes her face closer to his, slowly.

Rinnosuke trembles and says "Yukari, I'm warning you!"

Yukari chuckles and places her finger on his lip, then says "nobody's going to save you now."

From outside the house, a Rinnosuke's scream echoes in the distance. "Yu-Yukari... no, no... NOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

-

Back at the open field near the lake, a heated danmaku battle between Ail and Reimu continues.

Both have taken heavy damage, their clothes torn and burned, their faces stained with some blood and both quite tired.

Reimu fires various needles, which Ail blocks with one of his barriers.

She smiles and says "you have gotten lot better, that much I have to admit. But you're still not good enough."

She giggles and hugs herself as she says "ooh~ when I beat you, I'll take you home, treat those wounds, and then you can be all mine forever and ever!"

Ail smirks and says "you have to win first."

Before Reimu is able to reply, a dark blur knocks her to the ground, then heads to Ail, and knocks him toward a tree.

The blur jumps up above Reimu, revealing to be Remilia, who smiles wickedly at Ail and says "I'll just get rid of this nuisance, then you can become MY prince of the night."

She pulls out a large pack of spell cards and shouts at the top of her lungs "SCARLET DEVIL - SCARLET DEVI~L 37!!!"

Her voice echoes as the entire pack of spell cards shine in her hand.

Ail looks on with horror as Reimu slowly recovers.

SikiEiki's words play in his mind over and over "you have to protect the shrine maiden".

Ail summons all his will power and manages to get up and run to Reimu.

The large red energy beam is just inches away from her when Ail pushes her out of the way, immediately being engulfed by the energy.

He surrounds himself with a barrier, but it shatters almost immediately.

A bloody scream echoes all over, startling Byakuren, who rushes toward the source of the scream as soon as she hears it.

Reimu desperately shouts "NO~! Remilia sto~p!"

Reimu quickly chants in a strange dialect and a light-yellow barrier forms around her, disappearing almost as soon as it appears, then she rushes to Remilia and desperately shouts "Spirit Sign - Fantasy Orb!!!"

Five colorful orbs of light strike Remilia, canceling her spell.

Reimu rushes to Remilia, balls her hand into a fist and strikes her hard on the head, shouting "you idiot! That's for trying to kill me!"

She strikes her again and shouts "and that one was for Ail, you stupid little girl!"

Remilia rubs the bumps on her head, then immediately turns to Reimu, bearing her fangs, but Reimu is too fast and grabs her head and forces her to look at the shape of a burned human standing right were she unleashed the overpowered spell.

Remilia gasps and looks around for Ail with her eyes then starts to cry "no... no that wasn't supposed to happen!"

-

From above, a familiar child-like voice shouts "papa!? Papa~!!!"

Budou flies straight toward the burned corpse and cries as she shouts "papa! Wake up papa~!"

Reimu lets go of Remilia, then walks toward Budou, but stops when she realizes Budou is staring straight at them.

Her violet eyes turn aquamarine and shine brightly, making Reimu stop in her tracks and flinch at the horrible sight.

She could see the anger inside Budou building up, so she quietly prepares some charms.

Budou shouts at Reimu and Remilia "you mean sisters, look what you did to PAPA!"

Remilia stutters "I-I-I'm so-s-s... I'm SORRY~!"

Budou opens her mouth and a loud, penetrating shriek pierces through Remilia and Reimu's ears.

The shock wave of the sound alone tears Reimu's charms to pieces.

Budou falls to the ground as soon as she stops shrieking and whispers "sorry papa~."

Reimu's pupils shrink, feeling terror like never before after witnessing the destructive power of the little bat youkai.

As if in a trance, Reimu grabs more charms and a spell card.

Remilia gets up and asks "what are you doing? Reimu?"

Reimu continues to walk to Budou, kneels beside her and says "I have to do this NOW!"

The second she raises her spell card, a pink charm knocks it out of her hand, then a sudden gust sends her flying away.

Sanae lands in front of Budou, standing in Reimu's way and calmly says "don't you dare, Reimu."

Sanae turns to the burned figure and brushes her hand against the burned head, revealing a thick shield made of ice, and inside, Ail's frozen terror filled face.

Ail uses one of his barriers to finally break free of the ice and falls immediately to the ground as soon as he is free, shivering from the cold.

Reimu and Remilia both look on with awe, then Ail says "and C-C-Cirno s-s-saves me a--again *cough*"

Sanae hugs Ail and says "you lucky, lucky man."

Budou gets up and sees Ail alive, but shivering on the ground.

"PAPA!" she shouts as she jumps on his back and wraps her wings around him, causing herself to shiver as well.

Sanae calmly says "it's ok..." she picks up Budou, who's eyes returned to their usual violet color, "he'll be ok. Look"

Ail sits up and smiles, then says "thank you Budou" then turns his face to Reimu and asks "what were you trying to do, Reimu?"

Reimu quickly replies "Ail, she's a very dangerous threat to us, to Gensokyo right now. You have to listen, she's..."

Ail gets up and furiously shouts "she's just a child, Reimu!!"

-

Byakuren watches from the skies as Ail gets back up and shouts at Reimu.

With a sad expression she moves her head slowly left and right and whispers "oh no. She did it."

Back on the ground, Ail shouts "Cirno, come out of hiding! I want to thank you for helping me."

Cirno flies from behind some bushes and immediately clings on to Ail's right arm.

He pats her on the head with his left hand and says "thank you Cirno... again."

Cirno replies "don't leave again. It hurts when you do."

Ail chuckles and says "you can come with me this time, alright?"

Reimu sighs, walks toward Ail, kneels down and bends her body down until her forehead touches the ground and says "please forgive me."

Ail gets in front of Budou and Sanae, kneels down and says "I see you put on the barrier at last. Please, Reimu. Trust me on this. Budou is no threat. Give me a few days, and I swear I'll have the real threat revealed to you. Please, just give me some time."

Reimu doesn't move, nor respond.

Ail stands up and backs away, turns to Byakuren and asks "can we stay at your temple tonight?"

Byakuren comes down and says "well, of course. It's a little messy right now, though."

Ail chuckles and says "we'll help with the mess."

Budou lifts her arms up while Sanae holds her and shout "YAY! We stay with the nice lady today!"

Ail and Sanae both chuckle as Ail turns back to face Reimu, who is already standing up right next to Ail.

She whispers "Ail, I saw the visions, her eyes turned aquamarine, she destroyed my charms with the shriek..."

Ail holds Reimu's shoulders and says "just a few days, Reimu. Four days tops. I'll find the source, I promise."

Reimu looks away for a moment, then nods as she turns her face to Ail again.

Ail, who still has Cirno clinging to his arm, Sanae, who holds Budou in her arms, and Byakuren, all lift to the air and fly away.

Remilia walks closer to Reimu and says "I don't know why, but I suddenly don't want Ail anymore."

Reimu scoffs, then asks "hey, where's Sakuya?"

At the mansion, in Remilia's bedroom, Sakuya lies on her mistress' bed with a content smile on her face, her nose bleeding so much, she stains the bed-sheets and sighing "my mistress is so enchanting."

Remilia turns to Reimu, blushes and says "er, she's probably cleaning. Yeah... cleaning."

At Ail's house, Suwako says "she said not to bother her while she was here. Kanako, let's just go home already."

Kanako bangs furiously on the front door and shouts "Sanae! Sanae, you come out of there THIS INSTANT!"

Suwako sighs and says "just forget it already."

Kanako shouts "NEVE~~R!!! A~~IL, don't you DARE touch my Sanae, you hear! Screw this, I'm breaking it down!"

Suwako shouts "WAIT NO! THE MAGICAL DEFEN-"

An explosion causes Kanako to be sent flying away backward the second she grabs a large log and tires to ram the door.

Suwako jumps toward Kanako like a frog, stares at her and casually says "I tried to warn you."

Kanako cries out loud "No~! My Sanae's becoming a woman, and there's NOTHING I CAN DO~!"

Suwako pats her head and says "there, there, just let it all out."

-

The next morning, at Patchouli's library.

Patchouli and Koakuma are covered in bumps and bruises and both kneel apologetically as Ail scolds them, and Reimu keeps glaring at them with her gohei at hand.

"...and if you do something as irresponsible again, I'm going to personally seal your powers for a WEEK, got that!?" shouts Ail.

Reimu chuckles and says "and he'll do it too. I taught him!"

Patchouli replies "mukyu~. I'm sorry~."

Koakuma sobs and says "me too. We won't do it again."

After Ail and Reimu leave, Patchouli says to Koakuma "I'm sorry, Koa. We'll have to dispose of these after all."

Koakuma's head wings fall limp as she nods and says "we tried, lady Patchouli."

Both uncover the large golems, revealing one that looks like Ail, and the other like Marisa.

Patchouli sadly says "we'll now have to dispose of these."

Koakuma sadly says "WAIT, lady Patchouli, I have an idea."

The golems are actively picking up books and re-arranging all the shelves, and both seem to be working just fine.

Patchouli pats Koakuma's head, making her flap her wings contently, then says "well done, Koa. I would have never though of that. I'm glad to have you here with me."

Koakuma blushes and says "aww, lady Patchouli. you're making me blush."

At the human village, Keine bows to Youmu, who wears a pillow on her butt.

Behind her, Yuka, Aya, Marisa, Momiji, Kaguya, Eirin, and even Tewi, all wear pillows on their butts.

Keine looks at them and says "I'm so sorry everyone."

All look at her angrily, and each shoot one bullet at the history teacher, knocking her out and leaving her lying on the ground.

At Byakuren's temple, Ail, Sanae, Maribel and Byakuren have a secret meeting, while Kanako and Suwako play with Budou.

Somehow, Ail knows Reimu won't wait long for him to find whatever is causing her disturbance, specially when it's something that threatens Gensokyo itself, claiming "I would do the same if I were in her shoes."

-

At Kourindou's, Kyo speaks with Rinnosuke.

"...so it ended up being a quiet night after all." says Kyo.

Rinnosuke arranges his glasses and says "I wish I could say the same. Sleeping on the floor is most uncomfortable."

Kyo looks at Rinnosuke surprised and asks "why the floor?"

Rinnosuke arranges his glasses again and angrily says "because Yukari fell asleep in MY bed when she tried to take me."

Kyo chuckles, but quiets down when Rinnosuke glares at him, then asks "well why not go to bed now?"

Rinnosuke replies "I'd certainly love to, but you see... she's still sleeping in there."

Kyo sweats and looks at Rinnosuke surprised.

Inside his room, Yukari snuggles the pillow and whispers "teacups."

-

To be continued...

Characters, scenario and spell cards belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and Budou were created by Willie G.R.

SEP 16 2009

written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

**Alternate end:**

After Ail and Reimu leave, Patchouli whispers to Koakuma "let's try one more time tonight. I think we can really pull it off this time."

Koakuma whimpers "but lady Patchouli!"

Patchouli glares at Koakuma, making her flinch and say "alright, alright, I'm sorry."

The next morning, Ail wakes up, and after a loud yawn, he feels something's wrong with his voice.

He rushes to the bathroom, looks at himself into the mirror and horror-struck he realizes that HE is now a woman.

He whimpers as he touches his face, then his body, takes a deep, deep breath and shouts at the top of his lungs "PATCHOULI~ KNOWLE~~~~DGE!!!"

Patchouli and Koakuma hide for dear life under the floors, while Ail looks all over for them.

Koakuma whispers "for how long do you think we'll have to hide?"

Patchouli replies "for as long as it takes."

* * *

**Alternate end 2:**

Reimu giggles to herself and says "ooh~! When I beat you, I'm taking you home, treat those wounds, then I can make you mine forever~!"

She smiles a most dangerous, yet somewhat soothing smile at Ail, making him tremble and pull out a spell card.

"You'd have to win first, Reimu!" replies Ail in a challenging tone.

He raises his spell card and shouts "Mad Waves - Raging Splash!"

Extra-large blue danmaku orbs in 4 sets of 6 stand by in vertical lines at Ail's side; below those, various blue crystal-shaped danmaku fly scattered at Reimu, then are followed by the larger orbs, which spread sideways as they head toward her.

Reimu smirks as she witnesses Ail's attempt as beating her, then starts dancing on the ground quite gracefully, avoiding every single shot.

Soon after, watery waves, trailing more scattered blue crystals head straight to Reimu.

She smiles and says "now, now, if you want to see me all wet like that, you'll have to let me beat you~ *wink*"

Ail's face turns red as he shouts "and who says I want to see you WET!?" losing his concentration, canceling the spell himself.

He gulps and sweats, then looks at Reimu, who keeps smiling at him, then says "you just won't give up, won't you?"

Reimu smiles almost too angelically as she pulls out a spell card, and tenderly says "Barrier - Extending Barrier~"

Various barriers made of pure light expand from Reimu and straight to Ail, who tries to use his own barrier, but he's pushed back with great force against a tree, knocking him out, breaking his barrier and receiving an assault of light barriers straight on.

After the assault is over, Ail lies on the ground, his body aching everywhere, unable to move at all.

Reimu walks to him, almost like dancing, kneels next to him and places her index finger on his nose and says "now you're all mine. Any objections?"

Ail trembles, but is unable to reply.

Reimu giggles, grabs him by his legs and lifts off into the air, saying "I'm sorry about this, but you did make it quite difficult for me. Don't worry, though. I'll be gentle with you after we get back home."

-

Two weeks later:

Suwako and Ail sit on the couch in his house, while drinking some tea.

"So she just let you go like that?" asks Suwako.

Ail's face is full of bandages, his left arm trembles every time he tries to move it, and for some reason, he's limping a lot.

He sighs and replies "she said she was tired of me. I tried to warn her about this, but... women."

Suwako angrily snaps "hey~! We're not all like that!"

As if not even caring, Ail casually stares at Suwako and says "right... anyway, is Sanae still mad at me?"

Suwako sweats and says "I think it would be safest if you don't even think about her for now. Yesterday, she made a dummy that looked just like you. After I blinked, the dummy had become a mess of shreds and spread stuffing all over the ground. Sanae looked satisfied, though."

Ail sweats and says "*sigh* I see. And Budou?"

Suwako replies "she's behaving as well as ever, but she says she won't come by until you apologize to Sanae."

Ail drops his head and says "first I have to survive Sanae, before I can apologize." then takes a sip of tea.

Suwako stares mischievously at Ail, then asks "and so, who ended on top?"

Ail spits the tea in his mouth and looks annoyed at Suwako, then says "that is SOMETHING you don't ask so bluntly!!!"

Suwako snickers and says "so she totally owned you."

Ail drops his head and cries "I was so scared!"

Suwako hugs him and pats him on the back, then, after calming him down, she asks "so why DID Reimu get tired of you?"

Ail sighs and says "it turns out we both like drinking tea and sitting around the porch too much. She said I was getting on her nerves, so..."

Suwako laughs and asks "she kicked you out!?"

Ail sighs and says "worse... There's a reason I'm limping, you know."

Suwako looks at him in disbelief and says "I think I rather not know, then"

Ail smiles and says "still, I never knew the human body was so flexible, though."

Suwako chokes on her tea, so Ail pats her back hard, helping her swallow, then she says "timing! TIMING!"

-

**This second alternate ending was made as a request. I went in the comedy direction with this, because I LOVE having a good laugh, I don't know about you. Also, I DO believe if Ail was ever to have a relation like THAT with Reimu... is would certainly end bad, seeing as, to me, they are more like bother and sister. Well, I hope you enjoy this alternate ending, cuz I sure did!**

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**So many girls! I couldn't add all I wanted, but if I did, this would have gone for too long and I'm hoping to finish with Another Misplaced Sukima really soon. I'm still thinking of a title for the next adventure. Oh well, It'll come to me. Also, this alternate ending was added only for this site. Aren't you lucky? HAHAHAHA. I wanted to make this alternate ending the main one, however it would have made no sense for next chapter. I hope you enjoyed these Misfired spell chapters, and hope you continue to enjoy these tales. Also, I hope to improve as I go on. Take care everyone.  
**


	21. Chapter 20

Three days after the lusty incident, Reimu lost her patience, having gone through various visions of Budou destroying Gensokyo. Each vision more violent than the last.

Although Reimu is very sure of herself and her visions, it seems that she is the only one believing this, as Ail has somehow managed to convince many friends that Reimu is wrong.

Ail is doing his best to keep Budou safe, but the time has come to find a new hiding place for her, as it's only a matter of time before Reimu storms Byakuren's temple.

-

Ail smiles widely as he avoids various charms that explode on the ground and the trees around him as he flies backwards, very close to the ground itself.

"Reimu~ I'm not gonna let you hit me~!" mockingly shouts Ail.

Reimu smirks back and replies "you know it's just a matter of time, Ail. Give up now and I'll go easy on you too!"

Ail turns around just in time to avoid a tree, then lifts up to the skies as he says "Reimu, just one more day. I've almost found the source. It's just one more day. After that, I'll take care of Budou myself!"

Reimu scoffs and says "like I'll believe that! Face it, you could never 'deal' with Budou."

Ail flies backwards again and smiles at Reimu as he shrugs and says "then I don't have a choice. Sorry Reimu, but I have to make you understand one way or another. Sorry about this."

Reimu knows he's about to enter one of his gaps to get away and shouts "OH NO you're NOT!"

She pulls out a spell card, but before she can activate it, lightning strikes right in front of her, startling her and making her stop the chase and her declaration.

Ail escapes through a black gap, making Reimu snarl as it closes.

She spots Iku on the ground and lands close to her.

"You should know the penalty for interfering with Gensokyo matters, Nagae" says Reimu threateningly.

Iku closes her eyes and sighs, then says "I'm sorry Reimu. I owe that boy more than you know. Also... I believe in him, Reimu. Just listen to him; ignore those vision this once, Reimu."

Reimu pulls out her gohei from under her sleeve and glares at Iku. The oar fish youkai knows she has to defend herself now.

-

Reimu charges at Iku, giving her no time to defend herself, sending her flying back against a tree, bouncing off it and landing on the ground.

Reimu says "stay down, or I will have to get serious on you!"

Iku trembles as she gets up, saying "R-Reimu. Just listen!"

Reimu readies a spell card and charges at Iku once more, but stops just in time, as a large keystone lands right in front of her.

Iku jumps on the keystone, twirls, then lifts her right arm up, while holding her waist with her left arm and shouts "Lightning Sign - Elekiter Dragon Palace!"

Again, just in time, Reimu jumps out of the way of a large beam of electricity.

As soon as the spell finishes, Reimu looks up as the keystone crumbles to pieces and Tenshi carries Iku away.

As they head back to the heavens, Tenshi asks "Iku, are you NUTS? That maiden looks too furious to be playing with today!"

Iku takes a breath of relief and says "I wanted to help that boy."

Tenshi replies with worry in her voice "yeah, I know, but taking that girl on your own like that? That's stupid! You should have told me!"

Iku's body falls limp on Tenshi's arms as she looks down the the shrinking ground and says "thank you.... Tenshi." then loses her consciousness.

Tenshi sighs and says to herself "if that Ail kid is wrong about this, I'm going to give him one for you, Iku!"

Back on the ground, Reimu angrily stares up as Tenshi and Iku fly away.

She scoffs and says to herself "so... he's convinced others to help him."

She takes a deep breath and shouts at the top of her lungs "I'm still going to get you, you hear me!? I will do anything for the safety of Gensokyo!"

-

Ail pops out of the black gap right in front of Byakuren's temple, again falling to the ground and writhing in pain.

He gets up faster than the last time and says "I still need to get used to that."

He looks around, then runs toward the temple's front gates.

Inside the temple, Byakuren is begging Sanae to stop hunting Kogasa, who keeps surprising Ail at every turn.

Rinnosuke, Kyo and Luna finish the repairs on the tables and plants, and Budou glides happily straight at Ail as soon as he enters, hugging him and clinging to his neck. "PAPA~! You're back."

Ail smiles and says "hello Budou. Been a good girl while I was gone?"

Budou nods and says "I helped large brother and cat-eyes a lot."

Both Rinnosuke and Kyo stare angrily at Ail.

Ail sweats and nervously smiles at them, then Luna says "she's been a good little angel. She even helped plan quite a few trees."

Sanae giggles and says "specially some fruit trees out back."

Byakuren gets closer to Ail and in a serious tone of voice asks "and did you find anything?"

Ail nods and says "it's him after all, but I couldn't prove it to Reimu. He's hiding too well, and there are too many poisonous flowers for me to reach him."

Luna and Kyo walk closer to Ail and Luna says "Kyo and I can go in a flush him out!"

Ail says "It's going to be very dangerous."

Kyo stands next to Ail, smacks the back of his head and says "hey~, who do you think we are!? I told you we will help you in any way we can."

Luna adds "don't underestimate us, little man."

Ail chuckles nervously and says "er, heh heh, sorry. I just worry... that's all."

Kyo pats Ail on the back hard and laughs as he says "you don't have to worry about us! You worry about yourself and of keeping Budou safe now... oh, and, uh..."

Kyo gets closer and whispers "and you gotta take care of Sanae too"

Ail blushes and whispers back "y-yeah. Of course."

Kyo pats his shoulders lightly then backs away.

Ail clears his throat, looks at Byakuren and says "Byakuren, I thank you for all you have done for us, but we have to find a new place to hide, now that Reimu's actively hunting us."

Byakuren asks "but where can you hide? Even in your house, with all those magical protections, all three of you are still in danger."

Ail thinks for a moment and says "I think I know where to... we're gonna need help, though."

Maribel bursts through the doors, startling everyone inside and shouting "HELLO~~!"

Everyone stare at her angrily, so she lowers her ears and asks "did I do something wrong?"

Budou jumps from Ail's shoulder toward Maribel and shouts "CUTE KITTY~!"

-

Back at the Hakurei Shrine, Mima tries to calm Reimu down.

Reimu paces back and forth, growling angrily and mumbling Ail and Budou's names.

Mima gets in her way and concerned, she says "Reimu, pacing around like this and mumbling to yourself is not going to help. Please, calm down."

Reimu stares daggers at Mima, who immediately sits down beside Renko with her face turning blue and trembling in fear.

Renko calmly says "look, I know Mary can be a bit of a case, but I am sure she'd never side with Ail and the others if there wasn't a reason."

Reimu drops down hard on the ground and says "look, it's not that I don't believe Ail, it's just... These visions are too strong, and I SAW when her eyes changed color. Even if she's not really evil, she is still a threat to Gensokyo, and I have to seal her away. It's my duty!"

From outside, Marisa calls Reimu while hovering high above the shrine.

When Reimu and the others come outside, Marisa shouts "Reimu, you were right, ze! They all left the temple in different directions!"

Reimu sighs and rubs her eyes with her left index finger and thumb as Marisa comes down to her.

Reimu asks "where did Ail go to?"

Marisa replies "he, Budou and Byakuren went straight to the underground caves. The others split up in pairs, but I couldn't determine where they went."

From behind, a familiar "Ayayayaya" makes Reimu turn around.

Aya looks as though she is ready to cry when she says "Sanae and Maribel returned to the Moriya shine while Luna and Kyo..."

Aya looks down, looking disappointed.

Reimu pats her shoulder and says "it's not your fault, Aya. I'm sure he just managed to convince them somehow."

Aya gulps and says "they went to the Nameless Hill with Medicine and seem to be waiting for something."

Reimu quickly asks "you didn't see Cirno with them?"

Aya and Marisa both shake their heads, then Reimu says "good. Lately, she's becoming a little too protective of Ail. Well, never mind that. Aya, keep a close watch on Sanae and Maribel. You better take Momiji with you."

Aya salutes Reimu, and after a quick "yes, ma'am" she speeds away to the Youkai Mountain.

Reimu looks at Marisa and asks "are you sure you're going to be ok?"

Marisa smirks and says "of course. They're all novices after all."

Reimu nods as Marisa gets on her broom and flies away toward the Nameless Hill.

Renko and Mima stare at Reimu, then Mima says "don't you dare tell us to go, Reimu. Me and Renko are completely against this."

Reimu asks "so you're with Ail?"

Renko says "no, but we really believe you two should talk things over."

Reimu thinks for a moment, then says "keep the shrine clean. I'll be back later."

Reimu quickly lifts to the air, then heads straight to the Underground Cave.

After she leaves, Mima says "if this keeps up, the barrier will break long before she does anything about it."

Renko asks "What about that gap youkai?"

Mima ponders for a moment, then smiles and excitedly says "that's IT! She can help. Oh... If we could just contact her!"

A strange noise from behind attract the attention of Mima and Renko, who gasp after turning around.

-

Byakuren and Ail fly close to the ground, while Ail holds on to Budou.

Byakuren realizes Budou is asleep, gets close to Ail and says "you understand she's not doing this out of spite, right?"

Ail nods and says "but it's becoming very annoying."

Byakuren replies "Ail! Whatever happens, understand her feelings too. Promise me that much."

Ail looks at Byakuren and says "don't worry about that. I already told you, I understand her reasons all too well."

Byakuren smiles, then Ail says "ah, we're here"

By the entrance to the Underground Cave, Byakuren turns away from the entrance and says "she's here. You go and I'll distract her."

Ail palms his face and says "she's working faster than I had hoped. You sure you want to do this?"

Byakuren turns her face to Ail and says "I told you I'd help you no matter what. Now go!"

Ail nods and quickly enters the cave, holding tightly to the sleeping bat youkai, as a parent would hold their own.

Byakuren smiles tenderly after watching Ail and Budou go in, then turns her face to confront Reimu, who is just a few feet away, up in the air.

"If you're trying to prevent me from saving Gensokyo, then I'll have to seal you away." says Reimu in a menacing tone.

Byakuren sweats and says "Reimu, please leave that little one alone. She's not the one you're after!"

Reimu shouts "I can see the trail of her energy! It's disrupting Gensokyo's own, messing up the barrier as well!"

Byakuren shouts back "you are under a spell! It's that knight you're after!"

Reimu screams at the top of her lungs "I already dealt with him!"

She takes a deep breath and calmly says "I am the Hakurei maiden. If I was under a spell, I am sure I would know by now. Byakuren, you have to trust me on this."

Byakuren closes her eyes, then says "I'm sorry Reimu, but I can't let you pass until you accept the truth."

Reimu glares at Byakuren, then pulls out her gohei, then starts shooting charms her way.

-

By the gate to Makai, Cirno looks on, hesitant to enter the dark, yet sparkly gate.

She gulps and thinks "I am the strongest. I must not be afraid!"

She takes one step forward, but the moment she does, a red blur knocks her back.

Cirno looks up as the guard asks "and what business does an ice fairy have in Makai?"

Cirno looks up and spots the pink haired woman in red, then says "you are Shinki?"

The woman responds "I am Sara, and I guard this here gate. What do you want with lady Shinki?"

Cirno thinks for a moment, then stands up and says "I forgot... OH NO! I forgot! But I never forget!?"

Sara looks displeased and says "then I can't let you pass."

Cirno then says "but Ail told me I HAD to find Shinki, even if I forget!"

Sara stomps fiercely on the ground and says "I will not let you pass!"

Cirno sighs, gets closer to Sara, then freezes her feet to the ground.

Sara shrieks and shouts "hey! That's not fair! Unfreeze me right now!"

Cirno says "I have to find Shinki!" then quickly enters the gate.

Sara shoots at her own feet, freeing herself from the ice, then chases after Cirno, saying "I'm not letting a stupid ice fairy get the BEST of me!"

-

Byakuren does her best to avoid Reimu's charms, but Reimu overwhelms her by also attacking directly with melee attacks.

Byakuren's clothes are a little torn and singed all around.

She pulls out a spell card, but before shouting the declaration Reimu says "you do that now, and you might as well just give up."

Byakuren hesitates for a moment, then shouts "Great Magic - Devil's Recitation!"

Byakuren flies high above as blue petal danmaku flying in straight lines that cross each other, trapping Reimu in the center.

Shortly after, medium and extra-large red danmaku orbs drop on Reimu, as various large red laser beams mix in with the petal danmaku lines.

Reimu scoffs and says "I've seen this plenty of times already, Hijiri. Yours may be a little different than Shinki's, but if I do this, and this, and then this, I can take you down quickly."

As Reimu speaks, she dodges the medium and large orbs, being careful with the lasers and the petals, then gets close to Byakuren and shouts "Dream Sign - Wild Exorcism Dance!"

Reimu dances in the air, waving her arms and legs in a most elegant fashion as countless white charms fly straight toward Byakuren, who gasps in horror after witnessing this.

So many charms cling on her, then they start glowing whiter and whiter, and then Byakuren screams as agonizing pain takes her.

She falls to the ground and whimpers as she tries to get back up, but that last attack left her too weak to move.

Reimu walks closer and says "I'm sorry about this, Hijiri, but Gensokyo's safety goes above all. It's my duty..."

Reimu chants in a weird dialect, then various green amulets float around her.

Reimu says "a few days sealed should cool you down."

The amulets form into one whole amulet that flies straight toward Byakuren.

She closes her eyes tight and awaits the worst, but then Reimu says "wait, what the hell is this?"

The amulet bounces off Byakuren, then shatters into dust particles.

Reimu sighs and says "I see. Sanae must have expected something like this. Lucky you. *Sigh* I'm really sorry about that. I guess I lost control, but if you get in my way again, I won't hesitate to fight back."

Byakuren finally relaxes, but in doing so, she feels all things around her turning black, and then, silence.

-

Inside the Palace of the Earth Spirits, Satori Komeiji's mansion, Ail, Orin and Okuu, who's playing with Budou, talk about a plan.

"Ail, you should have come here from the start!" angrily says Satori.

Ail sighs and replies "I didn't want to get anymore in trouble, but."

Orin then says "bro, it's ok. We are friends. Friends help each other"

Ail chuckles and says "yes... I guess you're right."

Satori says "I see. You need my pets to create a diversion, so you can get the little one to a safe place."

Ail asks "is this ok, Orin, Okuu?"

Orin says "what did I just say, bro?"

Okuu adds "for Budou I'll help out too."

Ail bows his head and says "thank you. Both of you. And you too, Satori."

Satori looks into his eyes and asks "so you want to know how is it that I knew you were half-youkai in the first place?"

Ail nods, then Satori smiles and says "there is a very old memory in there. Your mother admitted this to you when you were a mere infant. That is how I knew"

Ail smiles but an explosion and some screaming causes panic to all in the palace.

From the distance, Reimu screams "Koishi, no~~! Stop that, I can't see~!"

Koishi shouts back "we're gonna cra~sh!?"

Reimu shouts I can't STO~~~P!" and Kohish cheers "YAY! Make it a loud one!"

Ail calls Budou, then Budou says "aww! Can't we play with Hakurei sis?"

Ail replies "I'm sorry Budou, but your sis is a little out of control, and I wouldn't want you to see her like that. Now come on."

Satori asks "what should we do?"

Ail opens a gap and says "tell her you chased me off!"

Satori asks "but she would know that I know where you are!"

Ail smiles and says "good. Let her know exactly where I'm going."

Satori looks confused, but nods, then Ail enters the blue gap along with Budou, then closes it just as Reimu crashes through the doors with Koishi riding on her back and covering her eyes, laughing and enjoying herself.

They land hard on the floor, Koishi flying off her back and landing safely on a chair, next to some bookshelves, a book falling open on her lap.

Reimu gets up the floor, rubbing her head and grunting, then gets up and shouts "where is he!?"

Satori calmly says "I'm sorry, we just chased him off."

Reimu glares at Satori, and Satori knows this isn't a good sign.

She calmly says "I'm sorry, Reimu. He came here asking if we could take care of the little youkai he's caring for, but got a bit too violent."

Orin adds "it was still a fun battle for me."

Okuu looks around and asks "what is with this mess?"

Satori calmly says "I did see a field of sunflowers inside his mind when he went inside one of those gaps of his."

Reimu smiles and says "Yuka, huh? That's not gonna help, Ail." then quickly flies back the way she came.

-

At the Garden of the Sun, Ail and Budou come out of the blue gap.

Ail smiles as he opens the next gap, then Budou asks "papa? Why don't you want me to see Hakurei sis?"

Ail sighs and says "understand, Budou, you are a very good girl and you have done nothing wrong."

Budou stares at Ail curiously, then he says "your Hakurei sis thinks you are doing something bad to Gensokyo. She thinks that by taking you away, she'll save us all."

Budou asks "but what if it's true, papa?"

Ail looks away and says "but it's not true."

He turns to Budou and says "Reimu is under a spell that's confusing her, and as long as she does not accept this fact, we cannot get close to her."

Budou looks to the ground a little confused.

Ail brushes her head with his hand and smiles as he says "don't you worry. She may be stubborn, but she's not bad. We just need to show her proof of that spell."

Budou smiles and says "if anyone can do it, it's you, papa."

Ail smiles and says "let's go see Eirin now. There's something I need from her."

-

By the time Reimu gets out of the cave, it's already noon.

She's tired and hungry, but she's too worried to think about food.

She notices Byakuren is gone now, but decides to not think about her, then flies up toward the village.

She hastily buys a rice ball, then eats it on her way to the Garden of the Sun, but stops when she sees a flash in front of her.

She thinks Iku is trying to stop her again, so she gulps the rest of the rice ball and prepares for battle, but when she looks down, what she sees is a grownup Budou smiling with evil intent at her.

Reimu comes down and notices some peculiar light-green shoes that looks almost metallic.

Budou smiles and says "and now... we all go boom, Hakurei sis!"

Budou unleashes a massive fireball in just one second, then throws it straight at Reimu.

Reimu isn't hurt, but the land around her turns to rubble as the large fireball consumes all.

She closes her eyes and opens them again, then realizes she's sitting in the path to the Garden of the Sun.

She gets up and thinks "I'm sorry Ail, but you have interfered with Gensokyo's affairs for the last time."

-

At the Nameless Hill, Kyo, Luna and Medicine camp just outside a small cave, hidden by many rocks, it's entrance covered with many poisonous flowers and insects.

Medicine looks inside the cave curiously, but a sudden wail form inside startles her, making her run back to the tent, shivering in fear.

Luna pats her head and says "don't go in without us, alright."

She trembles as she nods.

Kyo looks outside and says "just a few more hours."

Luna winks and says "good. I think she's getting impatient."

Kyo smirks and says "well, when we flush him out like the rat he is, she can tell Reimu about it, so she'll leave Ail and Budou alone."

Luna giggles, but then stops and asks Kyo "but why not do this now? Why wait until nightfall?"

Kyo says "Ail said that we'd have a better chance during night time, although I don't exactly understand why."

Luna sighs and says "too bad about Aya... I was hoping she'd join us. Kyo, I don't want to fight with her... she's..."

Kyo sighs and says "I don't want to fight her, or Momiji either, but if things get bad, we might not have a choice."

Marisa lies low on top of the cave and stares down to the tent occasionally.

She thinks "what are they waiting for, ze? If nothing happens soon, I'll have to attack. Although, I would really like to know who this 'he' is. Should I wait?"

-

At Moriya Shrine, Sanae rushes to Ail's gap as soon as it opens right in front of the shrine doors.

As soon as Ail and Budou come out, she grabs Budou and gives her a hug.

"Mama Sanny~" exclaims Budou.

Sanae smiles and says "so glad you're both alright! Did she find you?"

Ail shakes his head and says "as luck would have it, Koishi gave Reimu away just in time."

Sanae takes a breath of relief then asks "and are they going to help?"

Ail replies "yes. Orin and Okuu will create a diversion while I take Budou to Makai."

Maribel asks "do you really think lady Shinki won't mind?"

Ail smiles and says "don't worry. I sent a very reliable messenger. As long as she knows with time, I'm sure she won't mind."

They all head inside, but as they do, a loud shriek from Ail's bracelet startles all.

An image of the Hakurei Shrine, and another of the Nameless Hill hover above it's crystal.

Ail sighs and says "Maribel... you have to go back to the Hakurei shrine and help Mima and Renko with the barrier."

Maribel gasps and asks "but... Ail, can we do this by ourselves?"

Ail holds his chest and says "yes... besides, you won't be by yourselves. Suwako and Kanako will go with you, right?"

Suwako and Kanako stand by the shrine's entrance and nod at Ail.

Sanae chants in a strange dialect, accompanied by Budou, who sings along with Sanae's chanting.

Maribel is surrounded by a green and blue aura, then Sanae stops chanting and says "you now have both lady Yasaka's and lady Moriya's blessings with you. There's no way you can lose now."

Ail walks to Maribel and gives her a very sudden hug.

He sniffles and says "I'm sorry for all this Maribel. I never meant to get you involved like this."

Maribel is very surprised, but as soon as Ail lets go, she giggles and says "don't be! I've never had this much fun in my life!"

Ail wipes the tears off his eyes and smiles at her then says "thank you, Maribel."

He turns to Sanae, holds her hand and says "you take care, alright? And here..."

He hands her a small vial with light-green liquid inside and says "I got this from Eirin. Anti-venom. There should be enough for you and Marisa, and it will last for 48 hours."

Sanae smiles and says "cheer up, Ail. Everything will be fine!"

Ail sighs and says "I'm sorry to put you all through this, and I am very grateful to all of you."

Sanae gives Budou another hug, then hands her to Ail.

Budou smiles and says "see you later, mama Sanny!"

Ail smiles as he opens another blue gap, then enters through it.

Sanae looks on toward where the gap was just now and whispers "s... see you later... little Budou."

Just as Kanako, Suwako and Maribel are about to head out, Kanako shouts "you! Tengu! You should come too. We might need your help!"

Aya pops from behind a tree and asks "ayayaya~ How the HECK did you know?"

-

At the gate to Makai, Ail and Budou come out from the gap.

Ail places Budou on the ground, then gets closer to the gate and shouts "Sara!? Are you there?"

From behind, Budou desperately shouts "PAPA~!"

Ail immediately turns around and sees Budou tied up by various thin strings.

She panics and tries to force herself out, shouting "papa, papa, get me out of this!"

She hyperventilates as she continues to struggle.

Ail manages to cut the strings around her neck and says "shh, shh, it's ok. Don't move and I'll get you out of here."

Budou desperately says "hurry! This is scary~!"

Ail stops and says "Budou, be a good girl and don't move. I'll get you out of this, but first I have to convince that girl behind me to let you go."

Budou gulps then nods.

Although she understands, her instincts tell her there is danger, and she is too nervous to stay calm for long.

Ail get up and turns to face Alice. He says "either you release her right now, or I will make you!"

Alice shouts "I'll let her go as soon as you promise to leave mom out of this!"

Ail replies "if I could I would, but Reimu's got me against the wall here, Alice."

From the forest of Magic, a loud explosion startles everyone, even all the way back to the Moriya shrine, where Kanako is tying up Aya to a chair.

Alice continues to stare at Ail, even with so much going on around and says "if you won't stop, then I will stop you. I won't hold back, Ail!"

Shanghai, who's always floating around Alice, falls to the ground as Alice summons power to her.

She opens up her black grimoire and says "just this once... I'll stop you here and now."

From behind, a woman reprehensibly shouts "ALICE! What is the meaning of this!?"

Alice's face fills with terror as she turns around, only to get smacked by Shinki on the head, who angrily says "what is with this book, young lady!?"

Without realizing it, Shinki already has the black book in her hands and is inspecting it thoroughly.

Alice panics and tries to speak, but only stutters nonsense.

Shinki is in awe as she says "ALICE!? This thing drains your life span!? How can you be so irresponsible!? I... I though I taught you BETTER!"

Ail takes advantage of the distraction to release Budou, who clings to his neck, sobbing and saying "I was so scared!"

Ail pats her back and says "It's ok. You're safe now."

-

Reimu rushes to the site of the explosion and finds Orin and Okuu, both firing bullets wildly into the air.

She sends yin-yang orbs straight at them and shouts "what are you two DOING!?"

Orin says "oy~ sis. Come join us! We're having a party!"

Reimu comes down and asks "a party? For what!?"

Okuu replies "for fun!"

Reimu stares suspiciously at both of them, then says "DAMMIT! Ail put you up to this! Grrr, when I get my hands on him!"

Orin quickly gets in her way and mischievously says "now we didn't give you permission to leave yet, sis."

Reimu smiles and says "so you're going to take me on at the same time? You've got guts, I'll tell you that. Alright, I have some time to spare!"

Orin and Okuu both fire their danmaku at Reimu, who jumps just as the bullets are in range, then replies with a barrage of needles.

-

At the Nameless Hill, Kyo, Luna and Medicine are inside the dark cave.

They walk quietly toward the faint light as the very end.

Slowly, but steadily, they press on, until finally reaching the lighted room.

They peek inside, and inside, glowing like a light, placing his helmet on, is the crystal knight.

He laughs and says "and now, to cause some more chaos around here!"

Kyo breaks in and shouts "not if I can help it!"

He unleashes his shield and sword.

The knight turns into a beam of light and tries to fly away, however Luna manages to smack him with her sword as he tries to escape, then Medicine blows poison straight into the helmet's mouth opening.

The knight coughs desperately, but continues to run away.

Luna shouts "AFTER HIM!" then all three of them give chase.

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Maribel, Suwako and Kanako arrive just as Renko walks outside to look at the gate on the shrine.

"Mary!" shouts Renko excitedly.

From inside, Mima says "about time!" then Yukari floats outside and says "it's your time to shine!"

Maribel is surprised, points at herself and asks "m-m-m-me?"

Yukari giggles and says "yes you. Now, let's hurry. The barrier is about to break, so there's little time to chit-chat."

Maribel nods, then Renko grabs her hand and pulls her to the gate.

Maribel looks at the barrier and says "why is it writhing like that?"

Yukari says "it's a rare anomaly. Normally I could have dealt with this myself, but you see, it's reached a point where it's dangerous for me to enter, so..."

Suwako continues for Yukari, saying "so while you monitor things from outside, Maribel will fix the problem inside? But how?"

Yukari says "you seem to know your stuff."

Mima proudly pats her chest and says "I'll be going in there with her and guide her. Since Ail and Reimu are so occupied, she's the only other one we can trust this with."

Kanako seriously says "we better hurry. Something doesn't feel right, so the sooner we're done, the better."

Yukari opens her fan and says "agreed. Let's go."

Yukari opens a strange gap that seems to have it's own vacuum and says "in you go, you two. Remember Mima~, don't touch the wrong colors."

Mima proudly says "hey, it's Mima you're talking about here."

She walks toward Maribel, but trips and knocks Renko, who stumbles straight toward Maribel, then both stumble inside Yukari's gap.

Suwako palms her face hard and says "never according to plan, dammit!"

Kanako gets close and says "no cursing!"

-

"...and if I ever catch you using this thing again, I'm sending you to your room, young lady!" shouts Shinki furiously at Alice, who is kneeling in front of her apologetically.

Ail gets closer now and says "l-lady Shinki. Did you get my message?"

Shinki looks at Budou, blushes and shouts "Oh my gosh~! She so CU~TE! Can I hold her?!"

Before Ail realizes it, Budou is already in the hands of Shinki, giggling and rubbing her cheeks with Shinki's.

After that, Shinki clears her throat and says "oh yes, I found it at the little ice fairy's ribbon. It's a good thing I found her before Sara kicked her out."

Ail sweats and says "you don't say..? And where is Cirno right now?"

Shinki replies "I thought that, since Reimu's so distressed, she and Sara should stay in the palace as well."

Ail sighs with relief and says "good call. What about Budou?"

Shinki smiles and says "well of course I can take care of her!"

Budou says "wow, pretty colored lady~!"

Shinki gets a bit of a nosebleed after Budou says that, and hugs her tightly.

Ail is about to tell Shinki something, when from a distance, Reimu shouts "A~NI~LA~~N!!! I'm coming for you~!"

Shinki gasps and says "she doesn't sound happy!"

Alice says "this is why I was trying to stop this! Mom, she's going to seal Makai, I just know it!"

Ail says "I won't let her. There's gonna be a change of plans."

-

A few minutes before, Orin and Okuu surround Reimu with their danmaku while in the air, however Reimu calmly dodges all the bullets and says "I've seen older youkai with better aim than you two!"

Orin shouts "hey! That's not a nice thing to say, sis!"

Okuu adds "you rude maiden!"

Reimu laughs and says "face it! The only way you can ever hope to even come close to beating me, is if you use your BEST spell cards. But I doubt two animals like yourselves can accomplish that anyway. HAHAHAHA"

Orin and Okuu's face turn red with rage, then both take out a spell card each.

Orin shouts "Small Demon's Revival!"

Okuu shouts at the same time as Orin "Subterranean Sun!"

Reimu smirks, giving off a sense of accomplishment, then drops down to the ground and hides behind some trees.

Orin shouts "Okuu, you idiot! Stop, stop, stop... KYAAAAAAAA~!!!"

Orin's spell card cancels out almost immediately as she tries to run away from Okuu's, but the force of the gravity by Okuu's spell is too strong, and Orin is sucked inside, causing both to knock each other out, as Orin, in a last desperate attempt, tries shooting a crazy amount of danmaku at Okuu.

Both fall on the ground, their clothes torn and burned along with their skin and faces.

Reimu smiles and says "now for the big prize. You hear me Ail!"

She takes a deep breath, cups both hands by her mouth and shouts "ANILA~~N!!! I'm coming for you~!"

She looks up at the night sky and spots the energy Budou is supposedly emanating.

She scoffs and says to herself "I must save Gensokyo!" then flies away, following the energy.

On the ground, Orin whimpers "I'm so sorry, bro~!"

-

To be continued...

Characters, scenario and spell cards belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Luna, Agava, and Budou were created by Willie G.R.

SEP 18 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	22. Chapter 21

Three nights before:

Rumia floats around casually, while Agava trails behind her, pleading her.

Agava grabs Rumia by her shoulders and turns her to face her.

She smiles as innocently as ever and waits.

Agava kneels and places her hands together, as if praying and desperately says "come on, Rumia, just help me out here a little bit. Come on~!"

Rumia smiles as she stares back, then covers herself in her darkness, but before encasing herself completely, Agava shouts "I know you are the guarding of this... this charm! I'm begging you, please, help me take it OFF!"

Rumia gasps, losing concentration and her darkness vanishing in an instant.

She tries to fake a smile and nervously says "i-is that so~? Heh heh."

Agava grabs her hands and says "look, I've changed. I swear, I have changed."

Rumia looks at her suspiciously and says "prove it to me."

Agava takes a sudden deep breath of air, but is unable to think of anything to say.

She lets go of Rumia's hands and places her own on her thighs while looking down on the ground as she continues to kneel.

She sighs and says "I don't know how."

Rumia hums and says "well, if I can see proof of this, I can cut you a break. Bu~t if you trick me~"

Rumia's eyes glow crimson while she smiles in a most wicked fashion and says "I'll make sure to make you suffer so much, you'll beg for a death that will never come."

Agava sweats and backs away from Rumia.

She gulps, then nods and says "you can be scary sometimes, you know that?"

Rumia smiles like she usually does and says "is that so~?"

-

Present time at night:

At the Nameless Hill, Marisa waits above the cave where Kyo, Luna and Medicine are in, impatiently waiting for them to come out. "Waah~ so BORED! When are they coming out?"

"Marisa~!" shouts a girl from above.

Marisa looks up and sees Sanae, holding on to a small half-full vial and asks "What are you doing here? You looking for a fight?" asks Marisa offensively after Sanae tosses the vial at her.

Sanae shakes her head and says "here, take this. It's an anti-venom. It should protect you too from the poisonous flowers."

Marisa looks at Sanae suspiciously and sniffs the contents of the vial, then gulps it without hesitation, then asks "and who are we fighting here?"

Sanae asks "you really don't know?"

Marisa tips her hat, then smiles at Sanae and says "so the knight's here, huh?"

Sanae nods, then flies toward Marisa, shouts "take cover!" then lies on her stomach on top of the cave's entrance.

Marisa looks at her curiously and asks "cover? From what?"

The entrance to the cave bursts into flame, sending large chunks of stone flying in different directions.

The small tremor causes Marisa so fall on her face, but she quickly recovers.

Rubbing her nose, she gets up and asks "what the heck was THAT!?"

In front of them, the crystal knight hovers in the air, ready to attack, but Kyo comes quickly from behind and strikes him with his energy shield, followed by Medicine and Luna, who shoots multi-colored daggers and poison clouds at him.

Sanae gets up and shouts "after him!"

The knight flies away to the open fields, where countless poisonous flowers bloom.

He hovers above the flowers as he looks on to Aya and Momiji, both guarding any possible escape routes for him.

Marisa smiles and says "alright guys, let's finish this quickly and set Reimu's mind at ease!"

Kyo shouts "now you get it!"

-

At the Hakurei Shrine, Yukari looks inside the vacuuming gap and says "fu fu fu~! This is going to be very~ interesting."

Mima shouts "hey! This isn't funny! I better go in and get them!"

Yukari shouts "no! If you enter now, you'll shatter the entire barrier in a heart-beat. There's a reason why I specifically said 'only two can enter', remember?"

Mima sighs and like Suwako before, she says "never as planned, dammit!"

Kanako, who is forcefully washing Suwako's mouth out with soap, turns to Mima, releasing Suwako and threateningly says "watch it, young lady, or you'll be next!"

Mima covers her mouth with her hands, then a large explosion and Reimu's angry shout at Ail startles all of them.

Yukari feels something is wrong and shouts "hey, you two!? Can you hear me!?"

-

Inside the barrier, Renko and Maribel look around, both hugging each other and trembling.

Around them, various gaps like Yukari's and Ail's are visible, some blue, some green and very few with a sickly yellow color.

"M-M-Mary~!" nervously says Renko.

Maribel replies "R-Renko... wh-what just happen? Where are we?"

Yukari's voice echoes all around them "can you two hear me?"

Maribel immediately shouts back "miss Yukari, help us!"

Yukari asks "Renko, do you remember what Mima and I talked about?"

Renko shouts back "yes! But I want to get out of here... I feel sick in here!"

Yukari replies "remember what I told Mima~. Now, you HAVE to close those gaps you see around you in the right order. First green, then blue, then yellow, understand?"

Maribel asks "what are you talking about?"

Renko says "Yukari told us how to fix the barrier, so now *urk* we have to fix it ourselves."

Maribel asks "Renko, are you ok?"

Renko replies "this place is making me feel sick."

Maribel says "then go back outside and let miss Mima come in."

Renko quickly says "no, Mary! If either one of us goes out, we both do, and it'll take Yukari another day before she can open this place up again. We have to do this now, Mary."

Maribel nods and says "then what should I do?"

Renko says "you should be able to close the gaps, since you have already helped Ail before with HIS gaps."

Maribel remembers the energy flow she felt every time she helped Ail.

She concentrates until her energy and feels just like when she helps Ail.

She looks at Renko and with determination, she says "ok Renko. Tell me how to do this!"

Renko says "both you and I will concentrate on closing the gaps, but we must do so in a specific order. First the green ones, then the blue ones, and last, those yellow ones."

Maribel holds on to Renko and flies with her to the gaps.

Renko says "concentrate on closing them. Let's start with that first green one."

Maribel flies with Renko, close to the large green gap to their left, then extends her hand, getting it close to it.

She closes her eyes along with Renko's, who can feel the energy flowing through her as well, then slowly, the gap starts closing.

After it closes up, Maribel opens her eyes and excitedly shouts "we did it, we did it!"

Yukari's voice echoes and says "congratulations! Now please, hurry! Somethings wrong out there... Ran's gonna need your help!"

-

From the bushes, Agava watches while Ail, Shinki, Alice and Budou whisper something to each other.

Quietly, she waits, then notices Flandre on the bushes beside her own.

"Flandre?" she whispers to herself, while staring at the blond vampire.

She notices the angry expression on her as she looks straight at Ail.

Agava hesitates, but something inside her gives her enough strength and courage to go straight to her.

She walks closer, until she is just a few feet away, then whispers "Flandre?"

Flandre aims her hand straight at Agava, who flinches and crouches to the ground shouting "please, don't shoot!"

Flandre's face twists in anger upon looking at the shadow being and angrily shouts "YOU! After I'm done with big... with Ail, I'm coming after you!"

Agava manages to ask "wh-why?"

Flandre loses her temper, rushes to Agava, grabs her by the jacket and shouts directly at her face "thanks to you, I hurt Meiling! And thanks to HIM-!!!"

Flandre notices Ail and all the other are gone.

She scoffs and says "then I'll take care of YOU first after all."

Agava trembles and says "don't blame him for something I did."

Flandre gets shocked and releases Agava.

She stares back at her and says "y-you're not going to trick me again!"

Flandre opens her hand straight at Agava and says "first I'll break your head, then I'll break your arms, and your legs, and then, I'll deal with that Ail!"

Agava whimpers, closing her eyes tightly, then says "fine... do your worse. Just don't blame that idiot anymore."

Flandre stops from blowing Agava's head and asks "why are you protecting him? He's your enemy."

Agava says "Flandre... I don't know why, but being with you... I don't know, but I think I've changed... for real."

Flandre looks at her with disgust, but says nothing.

"I was the one that caused you to lose control again, Flandre. I'm sorry." says Agava.

Flandre now looks at her with curiosity as she continues her tale.

"I made you read a spell, out of my desire to get rid of the charm inside me, that caused you to lose all control, and that's why you hurt that girl. So if you have to deal with someone..."

Agava stands up and bravely prepares herself for the worst and shouts "you deal with ME!"

Flandre hesitantly trembles, unable to decide whether or not to blow Agava to bits.

She walks closer to Agava and says "I have decided I will not blow you up, but you'll have to be my playmate until I get bored of you."

-

Reimu flies just above Agava and Flandre, and spots Rumia watching from one of the trees, however she ignores them and continues her way.

A sudden burst of energy sends chills down her spine, strengthening her resolve as she says "Budou's starting her offensive. Ail you idiot, what have you done!?"

She flies straight through the gates to Makai without wasting another second.

Agava, Flandre and even Rumia, feel the energy Reimu just felt, however, they fell another source.

Agava looks at Flandre and says "there is one more thing I have to do before I can stay with you. Can you wait?"

Flandre smiles and says "no. So I'll go along with you and play with whoever is using this much power."

Agava smiles, then both she and Flandre fly toward the source of the energy.

Rumia encases herself in darkness and follows them to the Nameless Hill, where a mighty battle is being waged.

-

The knight attacks with many spells, all non-elemental.

Kyo blocks with his shield as Momiji tries to catch the knight off-guard, but he disperse another magical attack, sending Momiji flying back.

Aya gets angry and charges at him, generating a small tornado behind her, but the knight swings his arm and knocks her far away.

Kyo takes this chance to get close and engages in melee combat with the knight.

Both are evenly matched, so Kyo backs away and says "I was hoping to save this one for later, but..."

Kyo pulls out a spell card from the pocket in his black pants, surprising Momiji, who says "no fair~!" and Aya, who shouts "don't be all show, little man!"

Kyo shouts "Flames of Elegance!"

Kyo thrusts his sword in the air about 10 times per second, causing the tip to catch fire.

The fire dances around, then spread into a group of at least 15 pairs of dancing flames, all homing on the knight as they continue to dance with each other.

The knight tries to avoid the flames, but he makes a mistake, and one of the pairs strikes him right on the chest, giving Luna and Medicine the chance to attack.

Medicine spits out a green cloud of smoke that ignites as soon as it touches the fire around the knight, then Luna swings her blade, sending the knight straight down to the ground, however the knight keeps afloat, just inches away from the ground, expels a burst of energy that douses the fires, then laughs as it flies back up.

Aya shouts "that was a good try... now what!?"

-

Marisa and Sanae stand on the ground, both preparing a spell each.

Marisa says "those patterns... I've seen them before" as she watches the knight shoot more of his magic.

Sanae snaps "concentrate!"

Marisa says "oh, right!"

From behind, Flandre shouts "Forbidden Barrage - Catadioptric!"

Various bouncing blue danmaku orbs of different sizes overwhelm the knight, who immediately falls to the ground as soon as he's hit.

He gets back up and immediately receives a 'Masters Spark' in the face, followed by Sanae's 'Orochi of Ancient Times'.

After the attacks are done, then knight continues to stand, as if nothing even touched him.

Both Marisa and Sanae gasp in shock, but then, from inside the armor, a high-pitched voice shouts "help! He~~lp! I can's get out! Someone get me out of here!"

The knight's eyes glow red after staring at Flandre for some time, then an ominous voice echoes all over as it says "murderer~! You will pay for my brother's life!"

Everyone present cover their ears, as the echoing voice make them feel as though their ears would explode at any time.

Sanae shouts "LOOK OUT!" then pushes Marisa out of the way, as a large beam flies just past them at the speed of light.

Flandre looks at the knight with a brave face, so the knight flies toward her, and in an instant, he has his hand around her neck.

Agava shouts "what the-!? I'll save you Flandre!"

She pulls out her spell card, but the knight knocks her back like she was nothing at all.

Agava falls just past the poisonous flower fields, next to Rumia's feet.

She spring up and shouts "Rumia! Please, I need more power! He's gonna kill her!"

Rumia stares seriously at Agava, her eyes glowing crimson with intent.

-

Back inside the barrier, Maribel and Renko are just closing the last of the yellow gaps.

After closing it, Maribel slowly descends and places Renko by her side, who immediately drops to the ground, holding her stomach.

A violet gap opens in front of them as Yukari says "Maribel, Renko, thank you for your hard work. Now please, help me save my Ran!"

Maribel asks "what? What's wrong with Ran?"

She looks inside the gap and sees Ran in in a park of the outside world being chased by a multitude of people.

Maribel gasps and shouts "miss Ran!"

Renko gets up and jumps inside the gap, saying "don't just stand there, Mary!"

Maribel follows Renko in, both landing right between Ran and the humans.

One of them asks "what the hell?"

Their leader says "more devilish work! I told you! The devil himself is upon us. We just show him we are powerful when we stand as one. Come and let us cleanse these demons!"

The crowd cheers "YEAH!"

As the people elaborate, Renko and Maribel rush to Ran, who sits limp next to the bathrooms.

"Miss Ran!" shouts Maribel. "Are you ok?"

Ran struggles to lift her head and says "I feel... so, so weak. I want to... to sleep."

Renko inspects Ran, then pulls a dart out of her neck and says "tranquilizer."

Maribel looks on as the crowd of people get closer and asks "what do we do now?"

The crowd stops as various daggers rain from above. Renko looks up and shouts "CLOSE YOUR EYES!"

A blinding flash incapacitates the entire crowd as Yukari falls down, grabs hold of Maribel's arm, opens a gap and shouts "get in!"

Maribel and Renko grab hold of Ran and jump inside the gap with her, followed quickly by Yukari as the gap closes.

Back safely in the shrine, Mima helps Maribel up, while Suwako and Kanako help Yukari, Renko and then Ran.

Mima looks to the skies and says "it's almost dawn."

-

Inside Makai, Reimu and Ail meet face to face in the forest he helped restore.

Reimu is beyond herself with rage, but manages to calmly say "you have messed too many lives today, Ail, and all for that youkai. Once we're done here, I'm sealing off Makai for good, with you inside."

Ail replies "Reimu, you have the wrong culprit! Just go to the Nameless Hill. You'll find the knight there!"

Reimu scoffs and says "again with that. Ail, the energy disturbance is coming from here. More specifically, from Budou herself. I can see it, you know? She's just a few yards away right now."

Ail pulls out a spell card and shouts "I'm not letting you NEAR HER, Reimu! Earth Sign - Forestall Heartbeat!"

The heart-shaped formation of leaves and white colored danmaku that beat like a heart go straight to Reimu, followed by a pair of lasers that trap her in the middle of it all.

Reimu smiles, pulls a spell card and shouts "Barrier - Extending Barrier!"

Her spell card pushes back Ail's attacks as if nothing at all, then strike Ail with force.

Reimu thinks she's won, but Ail surprises her with a pair of white lasers, blasting her back against a tree.

Ail gets up and says "you're tired, Reimu. Just stop this now. You need your strength to fight the knight."

Reimu gets up, rubs the back of her head and says "Ail, you're really pushing my limits. Stand down, now."

Ail pulls another spell card, but Reimu already declares hers as she pulls out her own, shouting "Wild Exorcism Dance!"

Ail watches as she dances, then spots the many charms headed his way.

He gasps and quickly shouts "Light Sign - Holy DANCE!!!"

Just as the charms reach him, his orb of light prevents them from touching him directly, however, after enough charms cling on to the orb, both spells cancel each other out.

Reimu hears an explosion coming from Gensokyo and shouts "NO~!"

Ail wonders what is wrong with her. "Why is she screaming toward the gate?" he thinks.

Reimu turns around with her eyes covered in tears and shouts "you idiot! Gensokyo... it's going to be destroyed because of your stubbornness."

Ail shouts "Reimu, you are under a SPELL!!"

Reimu growls and says "your love for that youkai has blinded you, Ail. You are allowing Gensokyo to be destroyed."

Resolve fills Reimu's eyes when she says "I am going to seal away all your powers. You have meddled with Gensokyo's affairs for the LAST TIME!"

Ail gasps as Reimu pulls out three spell cards.

She looks at him with determination in her eyes as the spell cards in her hand glow pink.

Ail pulls out another spell card and says "you refuse to listen, even though I speak the truth. Reimu... Good bye, Reimu."

-

Reimu shouts "Fantasy Heaven!" and immediately, 7 white orbs surround her.

Ail is about to declare his spell, when Reimu, who's speed increases considerably, punches him right in the face, knocking the spell card right out of his hand.

She punches him again, then kicks him to the air where she follows with a spin-kick.

On the ground, Ail tries to recover, but Reimu strikes him with her gohei, then stomps on him and says "this is it, Ail. After this, you'll be just another powerless half youkai... WHOA-!"

Ail manages to push her away, but Reimu skilfully touches his hand, activating the last orb.

Ail panics and runs to his spell card, running away from the large amulets headed his way.

The amulets are fast, but Ail is faster, and manages to grab his spell card just in time, but trips and falls.

He manages to turn around with a smile, ready to declare his spell, but his smile vanishes when he hears "PAPA! HAKUREI SIS! Don't fight! Don't-"

A terrible feeling of despair fills Ail's heart as he watches the amulets intended for him strike Budou on the back.

Reimu opens her eyes and gasps, then in a terrified tone of voice, she says "no! This is too strong for her!"

Ail wants to shout to the heavens, but his breath fails him, watching with horror as Budou's body vanishes right before his very eyes.

He gets up and holds her.

She looks at him with fear in her violet eyes and whispers "papa... I'm cold"

Ail closes her eyes and says "shh, shh, it's ok. Just sleep now."

He manages to encase her inside a peculiar barrier that looks like a large ice cube, glowing blue, just as her body completely vanishes, leaving only the little white bow she wore on her teal hair on Ail's hands.

-

Shinki arrives just as Budou vanishes, despair filling her heart.

Ail kneels on the ground, holding tightly on to Budou's bow as he remembers something his mother told him.

Ayalina's voice echoes in his mind "oh, that poor woman."

Ail's child voice asks "mom, why is that woman on TV crying so much?"

Ayalina's voice replies "because she lost something very important, my son."

Ail asks "what is that?"

Ayalina replies "her child..."

Ail replies "ohh... But why does she cry so much, mom?"

Ayalina replies "there is no greater pain to a father, or mother, than to lose their own child, Anilan."

Ail says "umm~ But... why?"

Ayalina replies "I pray you never have to go through something like that, but someday, my child, you will understand."

Ayalina's voice fades as Ail comes back to reality.

He fells anger and hatred toward Reimu.

His thoughts dwell on causing her harm... killing her even, but Byakuren's words reach him, saying "Whatever happens, understand her feelings too. Promise me that much... promise me!"

He is crying so much by now, he can barely see his own hands.

He places the bow on his chest and starts to sob.

Shinki kneels next to him and gently places her hand on his shoulder.

Reimu gets closer, almost crying herself, then softly says "Ail... I'm sorry. I... Look... the energy she was emanating is gone now. I can restore Gensokyo now."

Ail continues to stare blankly toward the spot where Budou disappeared, his tears continuing to flow without pause.

His bracelet screeches so loud, the echo reaches all the way to Pandemonium, and a red image of the crystal knight, holding Flandre by the neck, hovers just above the crystal.

Shinki and Reimu cover their ears as the screeching continues without any sign of stopping, however Ail continues to stare as if nothing else is happening around him.

-

Siki and Komachi watch in awe as Ail's ghost half glows pure white, then zips away toward Makai.

Komachi says "something horrible just happen, Siki-sama."

Siki closes her eyes and says "a mis trial."

Ail's ghost half reaches Ail and immediately merges with him.

The card Ail had in his hand just before glows blue, so Reimu picks it up and says "he was willing to give his life for her..."

She inspects the card and says "but this..."

Ail says with a cracking voice "go and find Sanae and Marisa... the culprit is with them."

Reimu looks at him surprised and asks "Ail? Are you alright?"

Ail repeats "go and find Sanae and Marisa... the culprit is with them."

Reimu continues to stand there so Shinki shouts "didn't you hear!? Go! they need you!"

Reimu concerned asks "but what about...?"

Shinki shouts "JUST GO!"

Reimu leaves back to Gensokyo a little hesitant, but as soon as she exits the speedy gate, she can see the energy disturbance all around.

She gasps in horror as she realizes that Ail was telling the truth.

She hyperventilates and says "but... but... I am... shrine maiden... how...?"

The energy disturbance grows stronger, helping Reimu snap out of her horrible realization, so she flies up and immediately heads to the Nameless Hill.

-

Back at the Nameless Hill, Rumia's eyes glow crimson as she says "you have proven to me that you really have changed. I release 12% of your former powers, for the time being, to prove your worth. Remember my warning, little shadow. It would be very wise not to take it lightly."

Agava nods as she kneels down in front of Rumia.

Her body grows to that of a human teenager, having 14% of her powers back.

She smiles at Rumia, who, for a moment, though Agava would throttle her, but Agava only bows and says "thank you."

Immediately, she shouts "Shadow Morph" and turns into a shadow bird.

She flies straight toward the knight, trailing massive shadow orbs as soon as she is in range of him.

Stills as a bird, she surrounds Flandre with her shadow body and says "I'm going to save you, Flan."

The massive shadow balls smash on the knight, who releases Flandre, allowing Agava to take her away, turning back to normal after 20 seconds.

She places Flandre on the ground and says "I'll be right back!"

Aya kicks the knight back to the ground, where Momiji and Marisa strike him with their weapons, sending him flying toward Luna, who slices half of the helmet, then kicks him toward Kyo, how uses his shield to smash him back down, where Sanae places many pink charms on him, preventing him from moving from that spot.

Agava flies close and pulls our another spell card, then shouts "Shadow Sign - Binding Darkness"

Everything turns pitch-black around Agava and the knight for a few seconds, then, after the darkness clears, massive black orbs surround the knight, then all constrict against him, cracking open a small compartment on the chest of the armor.

After the spell is done, Reimu, who is flying just above all, looking in disbelief, shouts "NO! This can't be! But, the energies! The disturbances! I VAPORIZED YOU!"

Sanae shouts "Reimu, calm down. What happened!? ... Reimu?"

Marisa flies toward her friend and says "now it's not the time, ze! Go down there and finish this!"

Agava flies away as Reimu, accompanied by Marisa, floats down next to the knight.

From inside the armor, a high-pitched voice shouts "get me out of he~re!"

Another voice echoes from the armor itself, saying "just... finish it..."

Reimu looks to Flandre and signals her to get close.

Reimu places an amulet on the chest of the knight, revealing a crystal the beats like a heart.

Reimu says "Flandre, break that."

Flandre immediately grabs the eye of the crystal and clenches her hand, cracking the crystal and causing the amulet to explode, shattering the crystal into pieces.

Again, from inside, a high-pitched voice shouts "what's going on out there!? Get me out of here, dammit!!!"

-

Reimu stares at the armor while the others surround her, looking awestruck at Reimu's face.

She looks as though she wants to shout something.

Reimu snarls, then angrily pulls the armor apart in pieces, finally removing the torso and revealing inside a fairy similar to Lily White, only dressed in black, instead.

Reimu grabs the fairy by her dress and pulls her close to her face and shouts "SPEAK!"

Marisa gasps "Lily Black?"

The fairy sighs and says "yeah, yeah, you caught me."

Reimu shakes her and shouts "SPEAK, you miserable fairy! How did you do that to me without me realizing it!?"

Lily Black pouts and says "I used an ancient holy spell that diverts energy flow from it's actual source. I didn't want you finding me out, but... here you are, heh heh."

Reimu tosses the fairy toward the poisonous flowers and rushes to her angrily, but Sanae grabs her from behind, locking her arms around Reimu's shoulder and using all her strength, just to keep her away from Lily Black.

Reimu screams in a rage, then calms down, kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily.

Aya rescues the fairy from the poisonous flowers and says "you have a lot to answer for, little fairy."

Marisa crouches next to Reimu and asks "Reimu, what's wrong? Why are you so upset?"

Reimu sobs and says "I killed her! Ail told me, but I didn't listen. I killed her!"

Marisa asks "what are you talking about!?"

Sanae gasps and shouts "oh no!" then flies away as fast as she can.

Marisa gasps and asks "Reimu *gulp* who did you kill?"

Reimu launches herself to Marisa, crying uncontrollably as she hugs her friend for support.

Marisa sighs and pats her back as Kyo sits on the ground feeling defeated.

Luna kneels beside him, joined by medicine and Agava, then Kyo says "we failed... after all of this... we failed?"

Agava asks "what? We beat the knight... why is everyone so sad?"

Rumia comes and pulls her shoulder and quietly shakes her head, then Flandre says "remember your promise!"

Agava nods then says "alright then. Let's go."

Agava stands next to Flandre and notices she's now two feet taller than her and says "hey... you should call me senior now, don't you think?"

As they fly away along with Rumia, Flandre says "no~. You call me senior,and I'll call you playmate."

Agava replies "aww, come on!"

-

Sanae arrives to the Makai forest, where Ail sits against a tree, placing his head on his knees while Shinki sits beside him, brushing his hair with her hand, comforting him.

She gets closer to them and spots Budou's bow in Ail's hand, then start to cry as well, kneeling beside him, brushing the bow in his hand with the tip of her fingers.

Daytime reaches Makai by the time Ail and Sanae calm down.

Shinki stands next to Yumeko, who came looking for Shinki, worried for her lady.

Shinki says "I'm sorry Ail, I tried to hold on to her, but she got so strong. She freed herself from my hands, saying something about your energy being eaten and was flying so fast... I couldn't keep up."

Ail faintly says "it's alright, Shinki."

By now, Cirno, Sara and Alice arrive at the forest.

Cirno asks "you, blond maid! Did you hurt Ail!?"

Yumeko smiles wickedly and says "no, you little runt!"

Cirno gets close and asks "Ail, green miko!? Why are you so sad? Did they hurt you?"

Ail and Sanae manage to smile and both pat Cirno on the head and Ail says "it's alright Cirno. It will take time, but we'll be alright."

Sanae sighs and says "lady Moriya and lady Yasaka will be quite mad. I better go."

Ail stands up and helps Sanae up, then says "let's go then."

Shinki says "Ail, I'm really sorry..."

Ail smiles and says "it's alright Shinki. It's not your fault."

Alice tries to divert the conversation by asking "so she didn't seal us in here?"

Ail says "I told you she wouldn't."

Ail and Sanae look at Shinki, bow their heads, then smile at her, then Ail says "time to go back now."

-

Two days later:

At Byakuren's temple, Ail meets a woman with orange-yellow hair with black stripes and golden yellow eyes with a giant cloth circle attached to her back and wearing a lotus ornament on her head.

She wears a burgundy-orange-white dress with a tiger pattern by the abdomen, white frilly pants and black shoes.

He politely asks "is miss Hijiri here?"

The woman looks to him and asks "are you Ail?"

Ail nods as the woman slowly walks closer to him.

He says "I want to thank her for helping me so much."

The woman replies "she's very weak right now. She can't have visitors."

Ail looks down and says "ah... C-could you tell her that I am sorry for getting her mixed up in all of this?"

As he finishes his sentence, the woman strikes Ail with her claws right across his face and calmly says "lady Hijiri helped you out of the kindness from her heart, as well as all you friends. Apologizing to her like that is like spitting at her face, mocking her sacrifice!"

Ail looks at her with his left eye, since he can't open his right, due to the stinging pain of her claw mark.

She says "this curse will follow you until you understand all the sacrifices made for your sake are not to be taken lightly. All came from the heart, mister Ail, and you have to understand this. I'll tell lady Hijiri you were here, but if you want to insult her sacrifice, then you do so on your own."

The marks on his face start bleeding, causing panic to Ail.

The blood stops as soon as it started, and when Ail looks back up, the woman is gone.

He walks away, holding his face in pain, back to his house.

-

Later, at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu stands next to Ail, who finishes telling her about the claw marks.

She smiles and says "I see. That's Shou Toramaru, and she's quite loyal to Byakuren."

Ail says "you don't say?"

There is a moment of awkward silence between them for a moment, then Reimu starts to cry and says "Ail, I'm so sorry! If I had just listened..."

Ail sighs and calmly says "you did what you thought was right, Reimu."

Reimu shouts "Ail, I did something terrible! Hate me, shout at me, GET ANGRY! Don't just act like it's nothing!"

Ail calmly replies "all those thoughts crossed my mind, Reimu. But I could never hate you. You've been there for me and Kyo since the very beginning, in you own, special way, that is."

He turns to her and says "besides, hating you will not bring Budou back... but I know something else that will."

Reimu looks at him confused, then wipes the tears off her eyes and asks "what?"

He replies "Shinki tells me there is a Makai parallel to hers, however to access it, I need to go to the outside and look around a well known icy mountain."

Reimu looks at him surprised, then says "the spell... it was meant to seal your powers away. She couldn't have..."

Ail shouts "there is hope, Reimu!"

Reimu turns her sight away, then Ail says "besides, if there should be someone apologizing for all this is me..."

Again, Reimu looks at him quite puzzled.

Ail turns away from her and says "all of this happened because of me, Reimu. You see, after I helped Renko and Maribel enter, Yukari and I saw certain barriers on Maribel, so we decided to try and open them. What a stupid decision that was."

Reimu asks "is that why she can use those heart bullets?"

Ail nods and says "the thing is, I stopped when Yukari admitted to me she wanted to experiment with Maribel and her powers, but when she followed me during that incident with Tenshi in the Heavens, I accidentally placed a gap in her heart, and couldn't close it. She absorbed enough magic to have an endless supply herself, and that's not all. After Makai, Shinki's power went inside of her, giving her even more power. That's why she's flying like a pro without any practice or anything."

Reimu shouts "Ail... that's so irresponsible!"

Ail continues "then there was that disturbance in the gate back here that took us to the future... all because she has so much magic in her.... Anyway, after the goddesses possessed the two girls, somehow she And Renko shared some of that power, so it's only a matter of time before Renko gains abilities of her own."

-

Reimu smacks Ail at the back of his head.

He laughs and says "I'm not done, Reimu. Yukari and I had a little conversation after I came back from that future and realized my bracelet is... or was, somehow connected to Maribel, so it's been her powers that has been warning us about all of these events. Now, only the godly blessings remain in here."

Reimu asks "does she know?"

Ail says "I told her yesterday, so she closed that gap on her own. She lost those cat-ears in the process, but she was just so mad that I didn't tell her about that before, she just snorted at me."

Reimu says "you're lucky that wasn't me."

Ail laughs then says "if I hadn't done that, Reimu... *sniffle* Budou would have never become a youkai, we would have never been to Makai, that knight would have never found a way here... I'm sorry for everything, Reimu."

The claw-marks start bleeding again, mixing his tears with the blood.

Reimu says "stop regretting everything, Ail. You won't be able to live with yourself like that.

Besides, without Budou, you would have never experienced that love you shared, Maribel would probably be whining about how she doesn't have powers like ours, and Agava would have probably stayed the same wicked little monster. Add to all of that, you showed me the love you have for Gensokyo is second to none. You even helped save us from a horrible future."

The bleeding stops as Ail's eyes fill with determination and purpose, then says "yes, you're right. Besides, if I didn't do it, fate would have done it for us anyway, right?"

Reimu chuckles along with Ail, then asks "so, when are you leaving?"

Ail quickly replies "tomorrow."

-

The next morning, Cirno, Orin, Marisa, Sanae, Reimu, Yukari, Kanako, Suwako, Maribel, Renko, Mima, Kyo, Luna and Medicine all wait for Ail by the Hakurei Shrine.

Ail walks up the stairs wearing a white mask that covers his entire face, except for his left eye, and an old-looking brown cape that looks thick.

He looks at all of them and says "thank you all for everything you have done. I truly appreciate it."

Kyo says "good luck, buddy."

Ail bows, then Cirno and Orin both rush to hug him.

Marisa tips her hat to him, then Maribel and Renko walk to him and Maribel says "I thought about it and decided I want to thank you."

Ail asks "why?"

She answers "because thanks to you I have all these wonderful powers. Yes, many bad things happened before, but now that I know about this, I can help and control this."

Ail says "I see... I'm sorry to have kept it a secret."

Maribel then says "oh, look at what I can do now!"

She magically grows cat ears and a tail, then magically takes them away.

Ail laughs and says "that's a nice trick.!"

Renko adds "I'll be looking for my own ability now. Hopefully it's something subtle, you know?"

Ail smiles, although his smile is hidden by the mask.

He says "you two are so different, yet so alike."

Mima gets close to him and says "if you need help out there, use our mind link to let me know, and I'll come and help you, alright?"

Ail nods as Yukari opens the gap to a small village next to the mountain.

He's about to enter when Sanae shouts "hold it! You're not going ANYWHERE without me!"

Ail looks at her surprised and says "Sanae, this might be too dangerous and-"

"Zip it" says Sanae. "Besides, I have lady Yasaka's and lady Moriya's divine protection, and I miss Budou as much as you!"

Suwako jumps to them and says "you may act like a mother and father but-"

Kanako knocks Suwako out of the way, grabs Ail by the shirt and says "if you dare play 'husband' with her, I'll personally kill you!"

Ail sweats as Sanae blushes and pushes the goddesses away, scolding them both.

From the shrine stairs come Youmu and Yuyuko.

Yuyuko walks to Ail as fast as she can, crying as she did, then kisses him on his left eye and says "come back alive, Ail. Please come back alive!"

Youmu quietly stands and listens to Ail respond "of course I will. That's a promise... but why-?"

Yuyuko shushes him, then points him to the gap to where Sanae is standing next to.

He walks to her, nods, then both head inside the gap.

Yukari closes it and says "I have such a strange feeling... I've never felt like this for a human before."

Reimu says "that's because I've never left Gensokyo like that."

Yukari looks at Reimu, hugs her and says "don't go~!"

-

That day, Maribel and Renko visit Yukari's house to check up on Ran.

They arrive through Yukari's gap, startling Ran as they come out of it, shouting "hello~! Miss Ran!?"

Maribel walks straight toward Ran and asks "miss Ran, how are you feeling? Are you alright? Nothing wrong?"

Ran yawns then says "I'm alright, miss Maribel. You don't have to worry so much."

Maribel sighs with relief and says "good. I was so worried."

Renko adds "but you don't look that well to me!"

Ran says "it's that tranquilizer... It's effects still haven't worn off completely."

Chen walks into the room and says in a commanding tone "don't bother miss Ran!"

Yukari comes from inside her gap and says "Chen, that's no way to speak to our guests. They are just as worried about Ran as you are!"

Chen gasps and bows her head, then says "I-I'm sorry."

Maribel smiles and says "it's alright, miss Chen."

Renko adds "we didn't mean to worry you."

Renko, Ran and Yukari sit by the table while Chen and Maribel prepare some snacks at the kitchen.

Renko looks at Yukari and asks "lady Yukari, why was Ran all by herself in the outside world?"

From the kitchen Maribel asks "yeah, I'm curious about that as well."

Yukari casually says "the barrier doesn't only work from the inside, you know. If it was that simple, we wouldn't have needed your help in the first place."

Both Maribel and Renko say "oh" then silence.

Maribel and Chen place the snacks and tea on the table and as everyone takes some tea and cookies, Maribel asks "lady Yukari? What about my powers?"

Yukari says "don't worry, you won't lose them. You'll just stop gaining more."

Maribel then says "ok, that's good, but... Do you feel even the slightest guilty for doing all of this to me?"

Yukari smiles and says "fu fu fu fu, regret is for those who doubt themselves."

-

The End...?

Characters, spell card and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna, Budou and their spell cards were created by Willie G.R. (any similarities are strictly coincidental)

Assistance with the creation of this chapter and Kyo's spell card by snapshot 2010

SEP 20 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


	23. EXTRA

Reimu sits by the Sanzu river, watching the water flow it's course.

She continues to stare until everything else around her becomes distant and almost none-existent.

She replays Ail's pleading over Budou over and over.

She whispers to herself "maybe... I should consider quitting."

SikiEiki places her hand on Reimu's shoulder and says "the Hakurei maiden lost her nerve? Suicide is never the right option, you should know that. Or perhaps you want to escape? No matter how far you run, you'll never get away."

Reimu jumps up and mumbles incoherently.

Siki stares at her with a smile until Reimu realizes where she is.

The maiden looks around, seemingly lost and asks "wha- Siki? Where am I? What am I even doing here?"

Reimu realizes Komachi is standing next to Siki, smiling and waving her hand.

Siki says "I see. Something is bothering you, and you're just looking for answers? Well, you came to the right place, Reimu. Come, let's have a nice chat."

-

Siki, Reimu and Komachi walk away from the Sanzu River, back to Reimu's shrine.

Siki asks Reimu "so, are you sorry for what you did?"

Reimu's heart skips as she says "y... yes. I... I did something so horrible. I feel just awful."

Siki smiles and says "well you shouldn't."

Reimu shouts "how can you say that so calmly like that!? I literally wiped out an innocent, just because I wouldn't listen!"

Siki calmly asks "and will you be inclined to listen now?"

Reimu stops walking and stares at the yama and her shinigami.

Siki says "you have learned much more from this experience, Reimu Hakurei. All of these events happened for many reasons, each one as powerful as the other. Agava is no longer a threat. Ail is free to continue his life as he sees fit."

Reimu continues to stare at them for a moment, then continues walking with them as Siki asks "speaking of Agava... Reimu, why did you assign Rumia to be Agava's guardian?"

Reimu sighs and says "Rumia has the power of darkness, thus, has the ability to turn Agava's shadows to nothing if she wanted to. Also... I made it so she can remove that charm on her head, but only if there is need."

Siki replies "oh? Isn't that dangerous?"

Reimu replies "no. The charm will go back to her as soon as her deed is finished."

Siki then asks "and what about Agava. Although she has changed... having that much power back, she might try something, don' you think?"

Reimu quickly replies "Rumia would never have been able to restore that much power if that shadow hadn't truly changed. But that's something even Rumia doesn't know. See, if Agava's heart changes, so does the charm, and thus, becoming an entity of good, she can have more of her powers. However..."

Siki and Komachi look at Reimu with the corner of their eyes as she says "only I have the authority to completely remove that charm, and more importantly, if Agava does revert, so will the charm, locking away her powers once more."

Komachi grabs Reimu and squeezes her head between her breasts as she say "HA HA~ That's my Reimu, always thinking ahead!"

-

Walking close by to the village, where Rumia, Flandre and Agava are playing tricks to the villagers that wander outside, encasing them in darkness, laughing mischievously, and making them run in fear for a good laugh.

They all ignore this as Siki asks "speaking of 'change of hearts'; Reimu, did you notice anything after the incident with little Budou?"

Reimu's face turns pale and says "please... don't mention that."

Siki smiles and says "Reimu, feeling guilt for your mistake proves you have a kind heart. It hurts, but don't think less of it just because of that."

They come across Byakuren and Shou.

Reimu gulps and backs away, thinking Byakuren or Shou would want payback, however, to her surprise, Byakuren smiles and says "miss Reimu, I am so glad to see you again, and so calm too. Huh?"

Byakuren notices Reimu's guilty expression and says "oh, miss Reimu, I'm not mad at you. Although that attack did hurt a lot."

Reimu looks to her eyes and say "but..."

Byakuren says "I see. It's not only that, huh? Cheer up, Reimu. Soon, Ail and Sanae will come back with the little one. You'll see."

Reimu says "but... what if he never forgives me for that? What if I misused my powers and authority... all because I wouldn't listen?"

Byakuren smiles and says "Reimu... these things sometimes need to happen. Even if they hurt, you shouldn't let that get you down. I am certain mister Ail knows this as well."

Reimu smiles and says "I see. He did mention something like that... the dummy."

Byakuren chuckles and says "see? So stop beating yourself like that. Cheer up and be glad to have been part of such important events."

Reimu gasps and asks "w-wait, how did you-?"

Byakuren says "oh my, I'm sorry miss Reimu. Shou and I have some important business to attend to. See you around"

Before Reimu is able ask Byakuren anything, she and Shou hurry away toward the Forest of Magic.

-

Climbing the stairs to the mansion, Reimu asks "Siki, what was it you wanted to ask me before?"

Siki says "you know what I was going to ask, so why not answer right away?"

Reimu sighs and says "yes, I sensed something different about him. Even that deadly spell card of his changed."

Shiki says "oh yes. He can use it to his heart's content now, and even though he's no longer invincible while using it, it won't kill him."

Reimu suddenly asks "was he really going to..?"

Siki says "he was willing to give up his very existence for that youkai, Reimu. His love for her was as real as you and I."

Reimu lowers her head and says "I... I see."

Komachi says "miss maiden, don't go getting all sad now. That little one saved his life after all."

Siki adds "I never told him, but if he ever used that spell again he would have lost his life... his soul... in short, it would have been like he never even existed."

Reimu says "oh... So that too would have been my fault?"

Siki bangs Reimu with her sword and says "Reimu, LISTEN to what we are saying!"

Reimu looks at Siki, while rubbing her head.

Komachi then says "if none of this ever happened, you would have never learned to listen to others... although you still need to work on that."

Siki adds "and Ail would be running around with a very dangerous spell that you and that ice fairy could have used with ease!"

Komachi adds "not to mention he would still be split in half!"

Siki adds "which would have eventually led to you having to seal him away for good."

Reimu asks "why?"

Siki sighs and says "even with that blessed bracelet or the little youkai, he would have succumbed to the evil desires in his heart, and you would have had to seal him away for good."

Reaching the top of the stairs, Reimu stands under the large red gate, staring at Siki.

The yama covers her mouth with her sword and says "it was only a matter of time before those desires would overcome him, and he would have destroyed this, and every world, dimension, and even existence itself. Budou was keeping all those desires at bay, yes, but only after losing her as he did, he realized who he was and what he truly wanted. That's why his heart changed so much. That's why he became whole gain."

-

The shrine is empty since Mima, Renko and Maribel are visiting the village.

Reimu invites the yama and shinigami in for some tea and while they drink they continue their conversation.

Reimu sighs and says "I think I'm starting to understand."

Komachi asks "and how do you feel now?"

Reimu looks at her tea-cup and says "I do feel a little lighter. Siki, tell me, is-?"

Siki replies before Reimu is able to finish "she's alive, Reimu. It's a gift for Ail, and Sanae."

Reimu looks at her curiously, so she adds "you see Reimu, after... that incident, he wanted nothing more than to see you suffer. I don't know exactly how, but something made him forgive you. A memory? A promise? Perhaps he feels he owes you, or maybe his love for you and his friends? Maybe a combination of all of that...? Er, Reimu, is something wrong?"

Reimu blushes and asks "err... love?"

Siki strikes Reimu on the head with her sword, shouting "REPENT!" then says "you know by now he loves you like a sister. Don't go confusing things now."

Reimu rubs her head and says "that thing hurts a lot!"

Komachi says "you'll get used to it!"

Siki rapidly strikes Komachi, saying "don't encourage her!"

Reimu starts to laugh, causing the yama and shinigami to stare at her curiously, then after a while, they also join in the laugh.

-

It's noon and Siki and Komachi are about to leave, but before they do, Reimu asks "Siki, wait! Are the events finally over? Will we have a good future?"

Siki says "never rest on thoughts of the future, Reimu... and no, there is still one more event that needs to be overcome."

Reimu asks "is it a secret?"

Siki smiles and says "that wind priestess, Sanae, has to make sure Ail's heart stays in the right track."

Reimu asks "but I though you said he changed for the better."

Siki says "yes, he has. That dark future the four of them visited has become a mere memory, however there is much doubt in him now, and only that girl can help him; and in doing so, help keep a bright future."

Reimu stares at Siki with curiosity, so Siki adds "don't worry... there are many paths, but all are leading to that bright future, Reimu."

Reimu smiles then asks "Siki, you said something about me and Cirno being able to use that spell card of Ail's. Can you tell me why?"

Siki says "it's a holy spell, Reimu. You should be able to use most of his spells because of this."

Reimu continues to look at Siki, then asks "and Cirno? She's an ice fairy, not a god, a maiden, or a holy deity."

Siki smiles and says "of everyone around here, she has the biggest heart, Reimu. In fact, it's she who will... No, I better not say any more."

Reimu says "oh, come on! Tel me~!"

Siki smiles and says "just continue to guide her. She is the strongest fairy after all."

With that, Komachi smiles and waves at her as she says "see you later Reimu!" then flies away along with Siki.

-

At night, Maribel, Renko and Mima return from town, along with Kyo and Luna.

Kyo and Mima have a drinking contest, which they lose the second Suika joins in, already drunk and shouting her head off.

Renko continues to read many books she borrowed from Marisa, who arrives just as Suika yells "I WI~N!"

Marisa walks to Reimu and asks "so, are you feeling better, daze?"

She sits down between Maribel and Luna while Reimu replies "yeah... Had a chat with the ya... with SikiEiki. A very enlightening conversation."

Luna says "I'm glad. Miss Reimu, I never thanked you properly, or miss Aya, for all you did for me."

Reimu smiles and says "no need. I'm just glad you calmed down so much. Now, you realize you have to talk to Sakuya, right?"

She replies "yes... I understand. I want you to understand we will have to fight again, however..."

Maribel says "this time it won't end so bloody!"

Luna smiles as she lightly chuckles and says "yeah. That is what I am hoping."

From above the shrine, Suwako shouts "hello everyone down there~!"

As soon as they land, Reimu gets a little nervous, but manages to smile at them and say "well... hello. Welcome Kanako and Suwako."

Kanako and Suwako smile at her, then join in the little circle of friends and Suwako says "someone wants to say 'hi' to you guys."

Suwako places a strange orb with a peculiar frog design in it's center, then from inside it, Sanae's voice echoes, saying "lady Moriya, are you at the Hakurei Shrine yet?"

Reimu asks "Sanae, is that you?"

Sanae responds "ah, Reimu, how are you?"

Reimu replies "much better... how about you... and Ail?"

Ail replies "I am well, Reimu. I am glad to hear you're feeling better. I was a bit worried about you."

Reimu says "me? You worry about yourself and Sanae... and getting Budou back as well!"

Sanae laughs and says "you won't believe what his mother is making him wear right now!"

From behind Sanae, Ayalina is heard saying "but you look so handsome!"

Ail shouts "no way I'm wearing that, mom!"

Sanae sighs and says "he does look good in jeans."

Reimu asks "jeans? What are those?"

Suwako says "a really tick pair of long pants. Usually blue."

Sanae says "Oh, I'm feeling a little dizzy, so I better go now. Glad to hear from all of you!"

Kanako then shouts "Ail, you better behave with my Sanae, or I'll hunt you down!"

Ayalina shouts "who is this? How dare you call my boy a pervert. Oh, if I ever get my hands on you-!"

The frog inside the orb vanishes, signaling the communication has been cut off.

Suwako looks to Reimu and says "they were so worried about you. They said you looked so sad when they left."

Reimu looks at everyone present with a smile on her face.

Marisa says "there's my Reimu, ze."

Reimu chuckles and says "careful Marisa. Someone could take that the wrong way."

Suwako and Kanako both smile, then Suwako says "well, seems everything is coming back to normal."

Amidst the conversations, Maribel's voice stands out when she says "look, look!!! I can shoot bigger hearts now!"

Outside, Rumia watches as massive explosions quiet everyone inside the shrine.

She smiles, turns to face behind her and asks "is that so~!?" as she surrounds herself in darkness while her eyes glow crimson while still smiling innocently.

-

Another Misplaced Sukima - The End-

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and Budou were created by Wilie G.R.

SEP 21 2009

written by

Willie G.R.


End file.
